Re: Using local package in shell manifest

[Tomas Volf]

On 2023-10-26 10:48:45 -0400, Jesse wrote:
> Thanks Tomas,
> 
> I plan to upstream it but there is some more development I'd like to try out
> first. If I put it in the manifest, is there some different syntax I need to
> use? I have been doing some searching and it seems like I would have to wrap
> the "(package ...)" expression in define-public and the use-module seems to
> be a bit different too? I am having trouble finding the distinction in the
> manual.

My understanding is that for guix.scm, the object returned by the file has to be
a package? and it will be installed.  That is why you only need:

    [..]

    (package ...)

If you would put it into the manifest instead, you can just store it into a
variable, it does not even have to be public.  So you could do something like:

    [..]

    (define crosstool-ng
      (package ...) ; The very same definition from guix.scm
    )

    (packages->manifest (list crosstool-ng)) ; The variable from above

Technically you could even just have ...(list (package ...)), but that would get
unwieldy quickly.

Since define-public is for exporting symbols from module, it should not be
required in this particular case.

As far as I can the main difference between guix.scm and manifest.scm is that
former is expected to produce (== have as a last expression) a build-able object
(usually package?), and the latter a manifest? object.

> 
> On 10/26/23 10:16, Tomas Volf wrote:
> > On 2023-10-25 16:49:43 -0400, Jesse wrote:
> > > Hello,
> > > 
> > > I have written a package that I have installed with "guix package
> > > --install-from-file=crosstool-ng.scm". I was able to get it to build and
> > > install. I can use it if I do "source ~/.guix-profile/etc/profile".
> > > 
> > > However, I would like to add it to a shell manifest. My manifest just
> > > includes
> > > 
> > > (specifications->manifest
> > >    (list "gcc" "git" "zsh" "crosstool-ng"))
> > > 
> > > My understanding is that "specifications->manifest" is supposed to search
> > > for the packages in the list? It returns the following when I rung "guix
> > > shell" in the directory with the manifest.scm:
> > > 
> > > guix shell: loading environment from
> > > '/home/jesse/Code/guix-tests/manifest.scm'...
> > > hint: Consider passing the `--check' option once to make sure your shell
> > > does not
> > > clobber environment variables.
> > > 
> > > guix shell: error: crosstool-ng: unknown package
> > > guix shell: error: failed to load
> > > '/home/jesse/Code/guix-tests/manifest.scm':
> > > gnu/packages.scm:545:4: In procedure specification->package+output:
> > > Throw to key `quit' with args `(1)'.
> > > 
> > > I'd imagine it doesn't know where to look for the package? Is there a way 
> > > to
> > > tell guix shell where to look? If not, is there a way to include the 
> > > package
> > > in the manifest file? For what it's worth, I have attached the package 
> > > file
> > > in question.
> > I can think of few options:
> > 
> > 0. If it would make sense to upstream the package, you should.  That will 
> > solve
> > your problem.
> > 
> > 1. Next you could create your own channel, and publish the package there.  
> > After
> > adding the channel, it should also just work.
> > 
> > 2. You could load the package by an absolute path and use it that way, 
> > something
> > like this (untested):
> > 
> > (concatenate-manifests
> >   (list (specifications->manifest (list "gcc" "git" "zsh"))
> >         (packages->manifest (list (load "/home/.../crosstool-ng.scm")))))
> > 
> > 3. Alternative of the above would be to move the package definition into the
> > manifest.scm itself, allowing you to drop the load invocation.
> > 
> > Dunno, maybe there are better ways.
> > 
> > > This is also my first foray into Guix and Guile, so I've been kind of
> > > banging my head through writing a package and the manual but I got a 
> > > little
> > > stuck here.
> > > 
> > > Thanks
> > > (use-modules
> > >   (guix packages)
> > >   (guix git-download)
> > >   (guix licenses)
> > >   (guix profiles)
> > >   (guix build-system gnu)
> > >   (guix build-system python)
> > >   (guix build utils)
> > >   (gnu packages python)
> > >   (gnu packages autotools)
> > >   (gnu packages gettext)
> > >   (gnu packages texinfo)
> > >   (gnu packages pkg-config)
> > >   (gnu packages base)
> > >   (gnu packages flex)
> > >   (gnu packages gawk)
> > >   (gnu packages man)
> > >   (gnu packages bison)
> > >   (gnu packages compression)
> > >   (gnu packages ncurses)
> > >   )
> > > 
> > > (package
> > >   (name "crosstool-ng")
> > >   (version "1.26.0")
> > >   (source (origin
> > >            (method git-fetch)
> > >            (uri (git-reference
> > >                  (url "https://github.com/crosstool-ng/crosstool-ng.git";)
> > >                  (commit (string-append "crosstool-ng-" version))))
> > >            (sha256
> > >             (base32
> > >              "04z7zwhxfbjqrd4j16lviilppsd8phwi8zv2rs4jpkmqni6856j1")
> > >             )
> > >            ))
> > >   (build-system gnu-build-system)
> > >   (native-inputs
> > >    (list autoconf
> > >          automake
> > >          gettext-minimal
> > >          libtool
> > >          texinfo
> > >          bison
> > >          flex
> > >          gawk
> > >          unzip
> > >          which
> > >          help2man
> > >          python
> > >          ncurses
> > >          pkg-config))
> > >   (arguments
> > >    '(#:phases (modify-phases %standard-phases
> > >                              (add-before 'bootstrap 'fix-version-gen
> > >                                          (lambda* _
> > >                                                   (patch-shebang 
> > > "maintainer/git-version-gen")
> > >                                                   )))))
> > > 
> > >   (synopsis "A versatile (cross-)toolchain generator.")
> > >   (description "A versatile (cross-)toolchain generator.")
> > >   (home-page "https://crosstool-ng.github.io/docs/";)
> > >   (license gpl2)
> > >   )
> > T.
> > 
> 

T.

-- 
There are only two hard things in Computer Science:
cache invalidation, naming things and off-by-one errors.

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