bug#59278: gcc@7 and higher are not hidden packages

[zimoun <zimon.toutoune@gmail.com>]

Hi,

On Tue, 15 Nov 2022 at 00:53, bbb ee <blasforr@gmail.com> wrote:

> in version c81457a5883ea43950eb2ecdcbb58a5b144bcd11 of guix, gcc-toolchain depends gcc:
> ```
> $ DEFAULT_CHANNELS=/tmp/default_channels.scm
> $ echo "%default-channels" > $DEFAULT_CHANNELS
> # I force guix to use only %default-channels here
> $ guix time-machine --commit=c81457a5883ea43950eb2ecdcbb58a5b144bcd11  -C $DEFAULT_CHANNELS -- search gcc-toolchain
> guile: warning: failed to install locale
> name: gcc-toolchain
> version: 9.3.0
> outputs: out debug static
> systems: x86_64-linux i686-linux
> dependencies: binutils@2.32 gcc@9.3.0 glibc@2.29 ld-wrapper@0
> ```
>
> However, I can't find gcc package in this version of guix
> ```
> $ guix time-machine --commit=c81457a5883ea43950eb2ecdcbb58a5b144bcd11  -C $DEFAULT_CHANNELS -- search gcc
> # no found gcc
>
> # guix install failure message confirm that gcc doesn't exist in commit c81457
> $ guix time-machine --commit=c81457a5883ea43950eb2ecdcbb58a5b144bcd11 -C $DEFAULT_CHANNELS -- install gcc -p
> ~/opt/python-dev_3_7
> guile: warning: failed to install locale
> guix install: error: gcc: unknown package
> ```
>
> in commit c81457, how gcc-toolchain can depends a package who doesn't exists?

Aside a minor point about documenting ’hidden-packages’ although
’hidden?’ is mentioned in section “9.3 Defining Package Variants“ [1],
the main issue is fixed by e1bf3c6b5a06b6dbbe4f5a8692ea638a0ce43511.

Moreover, please note the section “8.4 The GCC toolchain” [2] in the
manual explaining the confusion.

Closing?

1: https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/guix.html#Defining-Package-Variants
2: https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/guix.html#The-GCC-toolchain

Cheers,
simon