bug#48214: inetutils-1.9.4 build fails

["Ludovic Courtès" <ludo@gnu.org>]

Hi,

Bone Baboon via Bug reports for GNU Guix <bug-guix@gnu.org> skribis:

> On the inetutils mailing list it was suggested that I try inetutils 2.0
> on the core-updates branch.  I can successfully build inetutils 2.0 from
> the core-updates branch even with IPv6 disabled.
>
> What is the purpose of the core-updates branch?

The ‘core-updates’ branch contains updates to core packages and core
Guix functionality that entails a rebuild of all the packages.  In that
branch we put package upgrades that would otherwise lead to too many
rebuilds (info "(guix) Submitting Patches").

> If inetutils follows semantic version numbering then that would suggest
> a breaking change to the inetutils API moving from 1.9.4 to 2.0.  Can
> the Guix master branch provide inetutils 2.0 instead of 1.9.4?

No: ‘guix refresh -l inetutils’ shows that almost 2,000 packages depend
on inetutils.

That said, if needed, ‘master’ could provide 2.0 in addition to 1.9, as
is done for GDB for instance.

> How can I use a package definition from core-updates with guix build or
> in a system configuration if it is not available on Guix's master
> branch?

You can do better :-), you can install 2.0 from master like so:

  guix install inetutils --with-latest=inetutils

> What are the reasons I might not want to use a package from the
> core-updates branch?

‘core-updates’ is where we put core changes as I wrote, including
experimental changes.  That branch also does not receive security
updates in a timely fashion.  So it’s really a branch for developers
working on core improvements.

HTH!

Ludo’.