idea: "guix cargo", "guix npm" etc

idea: "guix cargo", "guix npm" etc

[Andy Wingo]

A little idea inspired by Eelco's talk at the Guix miniconference.

The "problem" is that users are often more used to their
language-specific package manager than Guix.  They find "cargo install
foo" to be convenient.  However this rarely results in a reproducible
build in the sense of Guix or Nix.

So, an idea: why not offer a subset of the command-line interface of
"cargo" et al?  Specifically the commands to install a package.  The
"guix cargo" command would translate "cargo install" instantiations to
Guix commands.  If the package is in Guix, then it installs directly.
If not, maybe it runs the importer and prepares a package submission to
Guix?

Just an idea!  I don't plan on working on this in the short term.

Andy

Re: idea: "guix cargo", "guix npm" etc

[Jack Hill]

On Fri, 2 Feb 2018, Andy Wingo wrote:

> A little idea inspired by Eelco's talk at the Guix miniconference.
>
> The "problem" is that users are often more used to their
> language-specific package manager than Guix.  They find "cargo install
> foo" to be convenient.  However this rarely results in a reproducible
> build in the sense of Guix or Nix.
>
> So, an idea: why not offer a subset of the command-line interface of
> "cargo" et al?  Specifically the commands to install a package.  The
> "guix cargo" command would translate "cargo install" instantiations to
> Guix commands.  If the package is in Guix, then it installs directly.
> If not, maybe it runs the importer and prepares a package submission to
> Guix?
>
> Just an idea!  I don't plan on working on this in the short term.
>
> Andy

Andy, et al.,

I like this idea! Like you I don't plan on working on it in the short 
term*, but wanted to let you know that you're not the only one who would 
find such a feature useful. I'm curious to hear what more experienced Guix 
community members think.

Best,
Jack

*I'm still pretty new to Guix, but hopefully I'll come up to speed 
quickly. I've started work on my first package definitions 
<https://gitlab.oit.duke.edu/jackhill/guix-packages/blob/master/next-browser.scm>, 
so that should help.