Circular dependency with LDC and Phobos

Circular dependency with LDC and Phobos

[Pjotr Prins]

We are trying to build the LLVM D-compiler (ldc). The problem is a
circular dependency on a D-library (Phobos). The D-compiler source
won't compile without the Phobos sources which are in a separate
repository. Normally it is handled by git --recurse, but I think it
would be better to download the tar balls of the releases (I think git
recurse submodules is not working in Guix anyway, last time I tried).

How best to deal with this? Should I write a package which unpacks
Phobos tarball and make the source available to ldc? ldc won't build
without Phobos and Phobos won't build without ldc. 

From the source:

LDC currently needs custom forks of druntime and Phobos. They are
integrated with the main repository using Git submodules. To build
them, make sure you have up-to-date copies of the submodules in your
local repository:

$ git submodule update -i

Re: Circular dependency with LDC and Phobos

[Roel Janssen]

Pjotr Prins writes:

> We are trying to build the LLVM D-compiler (ldc). The problem is a
> circular dependency on a D-library (Phobos). The D-compiler source
> won't compile without the Phobos sources which are in a separate
> repository. Normally it is handled by git --recurse, but I think it
> would be better to download the tar balls of the releases (I think git
> recurse submodules is not working in Guix anyway, last time I tried).
>
> How best to deal with this? Should I write a package which unpacks
> Phobos tarball and make the source available to ldc? ldc won't build
> without Phobos and Phobos won't build without ldc. 
>
>From the source:
>
> LDC currently needs custom forks of druntime and Phobos. They are
> integrated with the main repository using Git submodules. To build
> them, make sure you have up-to-date copies of the submodules in your
> local repository:
>
> $ git submodule update -i

I think this specific case can be easily solved by the LDC developers by
providing proper tarballs with the *complete* source code to build LDC.

Re: Circular dependency with LDC and Phobos

[Pjotr Prins]

On Fri, Dec 25, 2015 at 06:06:22PM +0100, Roel Janssen wrote:
> > $ git submodule update -i
> 
> I think this specific case can be easily solved by the LDC developers by
> providing proper tarballs with the *complete* source code to build LDC.

Asking upstream developers may or may not solve it, depending on
whether they honour our ideas. But there are more cases, e.g.,
freebayes, sambamba and the list goes on of packages that use git
recursive modules as part of their build instructions.

Either we fix git recurse submodules - and I think there is no reason
we should not - or we allow importing multiple sources before the
build phase.

My question is how to do this last one in the best way because I don't
see any precedents in the gnu/package sources.

I would like to hear the thoughts of the Guix architects. What would
be the preferred policy:

1. Write a source package for phobos and make it available in the build phase of
   the other package ldc
2. Fix git recursive downloads
3. Allow multiple source downloads in one package

Pj.
-- 

Re: Circular dependency with LDC and Phobos

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Pjotr Prins <pjotr.public12@thebird.nl> writes:

> My question is how to do this last one in the best way because I don't
> see any precedents in the gnu/package sources.

> 1. Write a source package for phobos and make it available in the build phase of
>    the other package ldc
> 2. Fix git recursive downloads
> 3. Allow multiple source downloads in one package

Take a look at the “icedtea7” package in “java.scm”.  There we download
a bunch of additional sources.  They are simply added to the inputs.

~~ Ricardo

Re: Circular dependency with LDC and Phobos

[Pjotr Prins]

On Fri, Dec 25, 2015 at 10:18:37PM +0100, Ricardo Wurmus wrote:
> 
> Pjotr Prins <pjotr.public12@thebird.nl> writes:
> 
> > My question is how to do this last one in the best way because I don't
> > see any precedents in the gnu/package sources.
> 
> > 1. Write a source package for phobos and make it available in the build phase of
> >    the other package ldc
> > 2. Fix git recursive downloads
> > 3. Allow multiple source downloads in one package
> 
> Take a look at the “icedtea7” package in “java.scm”.  There we download
> a bunch of additional sources.  They are simply added to the inputs.
> 
> ~~ Ricardo

Thanks Ricardo. That is an interesting package! Talking about
complicated deployment...

Pj.
--