Re: [PATCH] gnu: Add ruby 1.8.7

[Mark H Weaver <mhw@netris.org>]

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

> On Sun, Oct 26, 2014 at 07:33:51PM -0400, Mark H Weaver wrote:
>> Pjotr Prins <pjotr.public12@thebird.nl> writes:
>> >     * gnu/packages/ruby.scm: Added older Ruby 1.8.7
>> 
>> According to our conventions, this should be:
>> 
>> * gnu/packages/ruby.scm (ruby-1.8): New variable.
>
> Is a new package a variable? 

'ruby-1.8' is a Scheme variable that's bound to a package object.

I admit that I'm not fond of this convention -- I'd prefer "New package"
-- but it's what we've been doing, anyway.

> We used the same message with ruby2.  Where can I find these
> conventions, btw?

In broad strokes, we use the GNU changelog conventions:

  http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Change-Logs.html

but with some minor formatting differences.  However, the best thing is
to look in the commit history for examples close to what you're doing.

There is brief mention of this in the "Submitting Patches" section of
the HACKING file in the source tree.

>> It looks like the 'native-search-paths' field needs to be overridden,
>> since the existing one has "2.1.3" in it.
>
> I don't think it is used by 1.8.7. Does that matter?

Yes, otherwise users who install ruby 1.8.7 will be advised to set
GEM_PATH to $HOME/.guix-profile/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.3.

If setting GEM_PATH is not appropriate when using ruby 1.8.7, then you
should override it here to be the empty list, like so:

  (native-search-paths '())

     Thanks,
       Mark