Common Lisp packaging conventions

[Konrad Hinsen <konrad.hinsen@fastmail.net>]

Hi everyone,

I have packaged but not yet submitted CommonDoc
(https://github.com/CommonDoc/common-doc) for Guix. What has kept me so
far from submitting it is an uncertainty about conventions for
packaging Common Lisp code.

The repository cited above contains multiple Lisp systems: a core system
plus optional add-ons. There is a single test suite for all of the code.

I see three ways to package this for Guix:

 1. A single package with a single output for the whole
    repository. Disadvantage: code and, more importantly, dependencies
    that most users don't need.

 2. A single package for the repository, with the add-ons placed in
    different outputs. Disadvantage: the add-ons are more difficult
    to discover and use.

 3. Separate packages for each add-on. Disadvantage: requires some
    heavy patching, in particular for the test suite.

Which option is the Guix Way (TM) ?

Cheers,
  Konrad.