From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic =?utf-8?Q?Court=C3=A8s?=) Subject: Re: Prototype for using Guix with python packages Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2016 22:34:15 +0200 Message-ID: <87fup6jhvc.fsf@gnu.org> References: <4174c012-8e2b-d6f2-8387-031e309b7daf@cbaines.net> <87fupbn713.fsf@gnu.org> <87inu2lfgu.fsf@gnu.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:36987) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1bjBSL-0003h3-9B for guix-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 11 Sep 2016 16:34:26 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1bjBSG-0002EE-By for guix-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 11 Sep 2016 16:34:25 -0400 In-Reply-To: (Christopher Baines's message of "Sun, 11 Sep 2016 15:25:29 +0100") 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" To: Christopher Baines Cc: guix-devel@gnu.org Hi, Christopher Baines skribis: > All of this is still very uncertain in my mind, in particular, I see > Guix as a viable alternative to lots of domain specific package > managers, which I would really like to avoid when writing software (e.g. > pip, npm gem) but I'm not certain that being a viable alternative to > these tools is within the project scope? Yes and no. Clearly how NPM and, to a lesser extent, PyPI approach packaging is very different from how Debian or Guix approach it. They tend to be very large repos with little or no review, and little consideration for computing freedom in the case of NPM; they tend to be mostly automated things that move very fast. As discussed in another thread, maybe what we can do is provide =E2=80=9Cco= re=E2=80=9D packages in Guix proper. There could be auto-importers for the rest, but users would have to trust those other repos, which isn=E2=80=99t great. Then again, importing and maintaining PyPI packages (with the help of =E2=80=98guix import=E2=80=99 and =E2=80=98guix refresh=E2=80=99) sounds mo= re reasonable than importing and maintaining NPM stuff. > The other main uncertainty in my mind is whether the approach I have > been trying is the best one? I'm getting more confident that this is > possible, although there are still technical problems (for example, > adding new versions, without breaking existing versions of other > packages) that I haven't solved yet. I think there=E2=80=99s no definite answer; we=E2=80=99ll probably have to = explore different possibilities. Ludo=E2=80=99.