Re: Adding content-addressed URLs to https://guix.gnu.org/sources.json

[Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer@gmail.com>]

Hi Simon,

Simon Tournier <zimon.toutoune@gmail.com> writes:

> Hi Ludo, Maxim, all,
>
> On mar., 25 avril 2023 at 14:40, Ludovic Courtès <ludovic.courtes@inria.fr> wrote:
>
>>> Somehow, it reveals 3 currently uncovered cases: computed-file appearing
>>> as,
>>>
>>>  1. ’origin’ in source field (ruby-sorbet-runtime)
>>>  2. ’inputs’ (racket-minimal)
>>>  3. ’snippet’ in origin in source field (chromium)
>>
>> I think #1 and #2 are okay: we can use any file-like object there, not
>> just origin/package.  Of course, <origin> is meant to be the best choice
>> for ‘source’, and <package> the best choice for ‘inputs’.  But I think
>> it’s fine to occasionally resort to some other abstraction when these
>> two are not adequate.
>
> I agree that any file-like object is nice.  Somehow, the issue is to
> “unpack“ the information of this object.  For instance,
>
> scheme@(guix-user)> (define ruby-sorbet-runtime (@@ (gnu packages ruby) ruby-sorbet-runtime))
> scheme@(guix-user)> (package-source ruby-sorbet-runtime)
> $1 = #<<computed-file> name: "ruby-sorbet-runtime-0.5.10610.20230106174520-1fa668010-checkout" gexp: #<gexp (begin (use-modules (guix build utils)) (copy-recursively (string-append #<gexp-input #<origin #<<git-reference> url: "https://github.com/sorbet/sorbet" commit: "0.5.10610.20230106174520-1fa668010" recursive?: #f> #<content-hash sha256:0f21dl06alxwn6xgdxyrkd58plmmsv04z2bcls9ld4cfzsrs5537> () 7fd7ad6b81e0>:out> "/gems/sorbet-" #<gexp-input "runtime":out>) #<gexp-output out>)) gnu/packages/ruby.scm:14071:5 7fd7ae734480> guile: #f options: (#:local-build? #t)>
>
>
> and as far as I understand, this case cannot be handled by some generic
> code.  The extraction of the “real” origin needs manual and specific
> extraction because of this ’computed-file’.
>
> For sure, ’source’ can use any file-like object because some use-cases
> require that.  However, I would be tempted to use an ’origin’ as a
> preferred choice – i.e., when it’s possible and try to make it
> possible. ;-) Because, somehow, it “normalizes“ the source information
> and eases its extraction.

I'm not sure I follow, perhaps because I lack context about how
Disarchiver use the source field of a package.  Would you mind
explaining a bit what the problem is or pointing me to a place it was
already explained?

-- 
Thanks,
Maxim