From: Julien Lepiller <julien@lepiller.eu>
To: guix-devel@gnu.org, zimoun <zimon.toutoune@gmail.com>,
Josh Marshall <joshua.r.marshall.1991@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Should guix track package aliases?
Date: Sun, 10 May 2020 08:13:14 -0400 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <AE7D45AD-A5F6-4808-B6E0-ACA8D59982BA@lepiller.eu> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAJ3okZ3EQWA8aT2Nte-GHKbDfdX2RotmQZgt-ipaNJFP+ma=7w@mail.gmail.com>
Le 10 mai 2020 05:57:22 GMT-04:00, zimoun <zimon.toutoune@gmail.com> a écrit :
>Dear,
>
>On Sat, 9 May 2020 at 22:19, Josh Marshall
><joshua.r.marshall.1991@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> [...] naming conventions between the source project, [...] , and guix
>itself have some drift.
>
>Some packages already track upstream name: see the field '(proprieties
>(upstream-name . "foo"))', e.g., the package "r-flowsom",
>
>> The approach which I think makes the most sense is to add an optional
>but encouraged field in package definitions which takes a list of
>alternative package names. When using `guix search` this field could
>also be evaluated, and when `guix package -i` is invoked and the target
>does not exist, these aliases could be searched through for similar
>names to the non-existing target and suggest the actual package they
>might have intended.
>
>Well, the 'proprieties' field is not used by 'package->recutils' which
>is the function used by "guix show" (and "guix search"). I do not
>have an option if an extra field "upstream-name" should be added or
>not.
>
>However, from my point of view, "Explicit is better than implicit." as
>said any good Zen. ;-)
>So, I appears to me a bad idea to implicitly install 'bar' when I type
>"guix package -i foo" because 'bar' is an alternative name I am not
>aware of.
The proposal was about suggesting anotger nameqwhen no package was found, not to install something else.
>
>IMHO, the fix is to improve the synposis and the description to be
>able to reach the expected package. If the description is
>well-written, then "guix search bar" should return the package "foo".
>
>
>Well, do you have specific example in mind?
>
$ guix install gcc
guix install: error: gcc: unknown package
Hint: did you mean `guix install gcc-toolchain`?
Since not being able to install gcc is surprising, and you don't always know about gcc-toolchain.
$ guix install gpg
Hint: did you mean `guix install gnupg`?
Often a name is used to refer to a package, and it's annoying to go through a search, especially when you have to filter a big output.
I'd use the search when I don't have a specific package in mind. For instance, looking for a font or a game:
guix search roguelike
"Give me a list of roguelike games"
guix search font japanese
"Give me a list of fonts I can use to see Japanese texts"
If I have to do "guix search gpg" I really mean "give me the package named gpg but you stupid guix devs in your infinite wisdom have decided to use another name" ;)
The first use-case is good, the second one is frustrating, don't you think?
>
>All the best,
>simon
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2020-05-10 12:13 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 18+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2020-05-09 20:18 Should guix track package aliases? Josh Marshall
2020-05-10 9:10 ` Nikita Gillmann
2020-05-10 9:57 ` zimoun
2020-05-10 12:13 ` Julien Lepiller [this message]
2020-05-10 13:33 ` zimoun
2020-05-10 18:16 ` Josh Marshall
2020-05-24 19:25 ` Josh Marshall
2020-05-25 10:41 ` zimoun
2020-05-25 11:57 ` Josh Marshall
2020-05-25 12:04 ` Nicolò Balzarotti
2020-05-25 14:20 ` Josh Marshall
2020-05-25 21:57 ` Vincent Legoll
2020-05-25 22:30 ` Josh Marshall
2020-05-25 23:14 ` zimoun
2020-05-25 23:19 ` Josh Marshall
2020-05-10 10:08 ` Vincent Legoll
2020-05-10 12:53 ` zimoun
2020-05-28 16:27 ` Ludovic Courtès
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