Re: A registry for distributed sources and binaries

[Pjotr Prins <pjotr.public12@thebird.nl>]

On Sun, Jul 24, 2016 at 07:10:44AM +0200, Tobias Geerinckx-Rice wrote:
> > The main problems with the current GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH approach are
> > [...]you need a Guix source tree[...]
> 
> Oh. Really? That seems like something that shouldn't be.

You are right. I am using this to fixate the Guix tree against
packages. Guix itself is a moving target.

> I have no experience with those languages. What do you see a ‘registry’
> for Guix being, exactly?

Just a scheme or JSON file containg package info.

> A long time ago — at least it seems like it[1] — I did run Exherbo, a
> source-based distribution based in part on Gentoo. Unlike Gentoo, it had
> no concept of a centralised package repository.

I already like that ;)

> Package repositories were simply git/svn/... trees hosted wherever. The
> only difference between the core repository and the others was that it
> was configured/trusted by default. You could remove it just like any
> other, if you liked fixing your system.

Exactly.

> I was able to run the equivalent of, in Guix pseudocode:
> 
>   ~# guix package --install footools
>   guix package: error: footools: unknown package
>   [maybe it even suggested a list of repositories with packages
>   named ‘footools’, I don't remember]
> 
>   ~# guix repository --add my-cool-repository
>   [what is currently gnu/packages would be just another repository]
> 
>   ~# guix pull
>   [fetches all repositories from their own URI, no central point]
> 
>   ~# guix package --install footools
>   [footools is now installed]
> 
>   ~# guix package --install bar
>   guix package: error: ‘bar’ requires ‘(input "blah")’ which isn't in
>   any of your trusted repositories, try adding one of the following: ...
> 
> It was an almost perfect system, IMO. Anyway, I'm definitely rambling.

No no, you are getting my idea.

> > Personally I think this will be very exciting. We can have a
> > metaregistry that lists all these packages so everyone can track them.
> 
> Definitely count me as excited, too. :-)
> 
> Though if it's a fork, I'll cry.

No fork. A fork does not scale.

Pj.