On 28-07-2022 01:15, Ryan Prior wrote:
> Why isn't node a dependency for node-mersenne though?

It is. node-mersenne uses node-build-system, which has node (or 
node-lts, dunno) in its implicit inputs.

Did you mean: 'Why isn't node propagated?'

For the same reasons as why any plugins don't propagate the thing they 
are plugging in, and why any library doesn't propagate its interpreter:

  * There is more than one implementation, how would Guix know which one
    you'd like?
  * Propagation stops you from separately updating the library and the
    interpreter (with "guix package -u this-package", or time machines,
    or defining a package variant).  (Actually, "guix package -u
    this-package" will ‘succeed’ because collision detection is disabled
    IIUC, but you can't decide which one wins)
  * ???

Also, see my answer on 'Is there really a use case for shipping ...’.