From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from mp1 ([2001:41d0:2:4a6f::]) (using TLSv1.3 with cipher TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256/256 bits)) by ms11 with LMTPS id UG/MCg7Sy1+XYQAA0tVLHw (envelope-from ) for ; Sat, 05 Dec 2020 18:31:42 +0000 Received: from aspmx1.migadu.com ([2001:41d0:2:4a6f::]) (using TLSv1.3 with cipher TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256/256 bits)) by mp1 with LMTPS id 8K10Bg7Sy19gLwAAbx9fmQ (envelope-from ) for ; Sat, 05 Dec 2020 18:31:42 +0000 Received: from lists.gnu.org (lists.gnu.org [209.51.188.17]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by aspmx1.migadu.com (Postfix) with ESMTPS id A9A0994011A for ; Sat, 5 Dec 2020 18:31:41 +0000 (UTC) Received: from localhost ([::1]:49652 helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1klcLM-0004RH-N4 for larch@yhetil.org; Sat, 05 Dec 2020 13:31:40 -0500 Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]:40936) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1klcL5-0004QV-4L for guix-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 05 Dec 2020 13:31:24 -0500 Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::e]:49010) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1klcL4-0003Lp-Hu for guix-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 05 Dec 2020 13:31:22 -0500 Received: from [2a01:e0a:1d:7270:af76:b9b:ca24:c465] (port=59094 helo=ribbon) by fencepost.gnu.org with esmtpsa (TLS1.2:RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:256) (Exim 4.82) (envelope-from ) id 1klcL2-0002m3-JS for guix-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 05 Dec 2020 13:31:22 -0500 From: =?utf-8?Q?Ludovic_Court=C3=A8s?= To: Guix Devel Subject: Getting rid of the mandb profile hook? X-URL: http://www.fdn.fr/~lcourtes/ X-Revolutionary-Date: 14 Frimaire an 229 de la =?utf-8?Q?R=C3=A9volution?= X-PGP-Key-ID: 0x090B11993D9AEBB5 X-PGP-Key: http://www.fdn.fr/~lcourtes/ludovic.asc X-PGP-Fingerprint: 3CE4 6455 8A84 FDC6 9DB4 0CFB 090B 1199 3D9A EBB5 X-OS: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu Date: Sat, 05 Dec 2020 19:31:18 +0100 Message-ID: <87k0tw3y15.fsf@inria.fr> User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/27.1 (gnu/linux) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-BeenThere: guix-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 Precedence: list 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+larch=yhetil.org@gnu.org Sender: "Guix-devel" X-Migadu-Flow: FLOW_IN X-Migadu-Spam-Score: -1.80 Authentication-Results: aspmx1.migadu.com; dkim=none; dmarc=pass (policy=none) header.from=gnu.org; spf=pass (aspmx1.migadu.com: domain of guix-devel-bounces@gnu.org designates 209.51.188.17 as permitted sender) smtp.mailfrom=guix-devel-bounces@gnu.org X-Migadu-Queue-Id: A9A0994011A X-Spam-Score: -1.80 X-Migadu-Scanner: ns3122888.ip-94-23-21.eu X-TUID: Np3zKB+7YSyn Hi Guix! I was inspired by Michael Stapelberg=E2=80=99s talk recently shared on IRC= =C2=B9 (well worth watching!). One of the takeaways for me is that many actions should be done lazily, in particular populating caches. =E2=80=98guix install=E2=80=99 & co. spend a significant time populating su= ch caches, in particular the XDG caches=C2=B2 and the manual page database (mandb). I=E2=80=99m thinking we could get rid of the mandb hook. However, the functionality matters IMO (we need good tools so users can browse local documentation; mandb is not that good but better than no search mechanism.) Here are several options that come to mind: 1. Provide a =E2=80=98man=E2=80=99 wrapper or modify the =E2=80=98man-db= =E2=80=99 package such that the database gets built on the first use of =E2=80=98man -k=E2=80=99, = unless it=E2=80=99s already up-to-date. 2. Add a phase in gnu-build-system.scm that creates a per-package database. Change the mandb profile hook such that all it needs to do is =E2=80=9Cconcatenate=E2=80=9D all these GDBM databases (which sh= ould be much faster than browsing all the man pages as it currently does). There are crazier option that came to mind but let=E2=80=99s ignore them for now. Thoughts? :-) Ludo=E2=80=99. =C2=B9 =E2=80=9Cdistri: researching fast Linux package management=E2=80=9D https://media.ccc.de/v/arch-conf-online-2020-6387-distri-researching-fast= -linux-package-management =C2=B2 https://issues.guix.gnu.org/44053#4