From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Pjotr Prins Subject: Re: Getting rid of build tools Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2015 20:05:36 +0100 Message-ID: <20151228190536.GA5914@thebird.nl> References: <20151227082320.GA613@thebird.nl> <87oadalfr7.fsf@dustycloud.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:37214) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1aDd79-0000js-2E for guix-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 28 Dec 2015 14:05:51 -0500 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1aDd75-0002Op-Sj for guix-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 28 Dec 2015 14:05:50 -0500 Received: from mail.thebird.nl ([95.154.246.10]:47403) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1aDd75-0002Ok-MS for guix-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 28 Dec 2015 14:05:47 -0500 Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <87oadalfr7.fsf@dustycloud.org> List-Id: "Development of GNU Guix and the GNU System distribution." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: guix-devel-bounces+gcggd-guix-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: guix-devel-bounces+gcggd-guix-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: Christopher Allan Webber Cc: guix-devel@gnu.org On Mon, Dec 28, 2015 at 09:06:40AM -0600, Christopher Allan Webber wrote: > I guess these things could be done through Guix itself. What I'd rather > see though is a "./configure && make" compatible interface system for > package building which uses Guile as its configuration language. > Automake and friends are great when they're working, but I'd love a > system that relied less on string-macro expansion and etc when I have to > debug them. > > I think that would be an interesting project. It would be nice to see > it happen outside of Guix though, so it could be used more generally. I agree. It is actually in line with Eelco Dolstra's thinking more than 10 years ago (he created 'Maak'), though he did not use Guile. I am not saying we don't need build tools altogether - I'll still use make and rake, for example. But we certainly don't need all the baggage that comes with the current set of 'complex' Makefile generation tools that are automake and cmake. I guess it should be somewhere in between :). Yes a configurable Guile solution would be excellent. Pj.