Process of adding a package

Process of adding a package

[Zelphir Kaltstahl]

Hello Guix Users!

I have questions regarding the sending of patches and associated process of
releasing a package via GNU Guix:

What is the usual process, after one has sent in a patch adding a new package to
GNU Guix?

The background of the question is, that approximately 2 months ago, I sent in a
patch adding `guile-fslib`, but I don't know how long I should expect it to
take, until I can `guile pull` and `guix install <my newly added package>`.
Should I be worried, that it is not yet available? Did I do something wrong? Or
does it simply take some time, because someone needs to read the code of the
package I added, to verify, that nothing nefarious is going on?

Meanwhile I am using a git submodule instead, to use my library in my own
project and change the load path when starting my application, so that Guile
picks up the additional library. It would be great to be able to install it via
GNU Guix instead, avoiding the submodule thing completely.

Another, probably related question: When the package has been added, what is the
process behind updating the package? I send in a patch and then what happens? Is
it immediately updated, once some CI tests ran?

Best regards,
Zelphir

-- 
repositories: https://notabug.org/ZelphirKaltstahl

Re: Process of adding a package

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Hi,

> What is the usual process, after one has sent in a patch adding 
> a new package to
> GNU Guix?

Someone would review it, apply the patch, and then push.

> The background of the question is, that approximately 2 months 
> ago, I sent in a
> patch adding `guile-fslib`

2 months is too long.  If you don’t hear from us after a week your 
patch likely fell through the cracks and nobody realized it.  You 
can ping us.

I wasn’t aware of your patch, but I found it here:

    https://issues.guix.gnu.org/47697

The commit message isn’t according to our standards, but that’s 
easy to fix.  The patch itself looks fine, so I’m going to apply 
it in a moment.  Sorry about taking so long!

-- 
Ricardo

Re: Process of adding a package

[Zelphir Kaltstahl]

Hi Ricardo!

Thank you for your quick reply!

I submitted the patch via e-mail attachment. It was recently said on the mailing
list, that it should not matter, or even be more reliable, when submitting it as
an attachment. However, as I see mostly patches being submitted in the e-mail
body, perhaps something automated does not work correctly with patches submitted
as attachment? Wildly guessing around here : )

Anyway, thank you for looking at the patch.

I thought I had written the patch commit message answering all questions on
https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Change-Logs.html#Change-Logs
<https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Change-Logs.html#Change-Logs>.
However, perhaps I should have checked the linked pages there, especially
https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Style-of-Change-Logs.html#Style-of-Change-Logs
<https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Style-of-Change-Logs.html#Style-of-Change-Logs>?
Or is it something else, that can be done in a better way about the commit message?

Best regards,
Zelphir

On 5/10/21 12:08 PM, Ricardo Wurmus wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
>> What is the usual process, after one has sent in a patch adding a new package to
>> GNU Guix?
>
> Someone would review it, apply the patch, and then push.
>
>> The background of the question is, that approximately 2 months ago, I sent in a
>> patch adding `guile-fslib`
>
> 2 months is too long.  If you don’t hear from us after a week your patch
> likely fell through the cracks and nobody realized it.  You can ping us.
>
> I wasn’t aware of your patch, but I found it here:
>
>    https://issues.guix.gnu.org/47697
>
> The commit message isn’t according to our standards, but that’s easy to fix. 
> The patch itself looks fine, so I’m going to apply it in a moment.  Sorry
> about taking so long!
>
-- 
repositories: https://notabug.org/ZelphirKaltstahl

Re: Process of adding a package

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Hi Zelphir,

> I submitted the patch via e-mail attachment. It was recently 
> said on the mailing
> list, that it should not matter, or even be more reliable, when 
> submitting it as
> an attachment. However, as I see mostly patches being submitted 
> in the e-mail
> body, perhaps something automated does not work correctly with 
> patches submitted
> as attachment?

No, it all worked fine.  It’s just that the people who could have 
applied your patch did not.  Part of the reason is that one of 
them (me!) is no longer subscribed to the guix-patches list, 
another part is that people are busy preparing the upcoming 
release.

So I guess it just fell through the cracks.  You are welcome to 
ping people.  If you’re on the #guix IRC channel you can also ask 
for review there.

> I thought I had written the patch commit message answering all 
> questions on
> https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Change-Logs.html#Change-Logs
> <https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Change-Logs.html#Change-Logs>.
> However, perhaps I should have checked the linked pages there, 
> especially
> https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Style-of-Change-Logs.html#Style-of-Change-Logs
> <https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Style-of-Change-Logs.html#Style-of-Change-Logs>?
> Or is it something else, that can be done in a better way about 
> the commit message?

There is a standard format, yes.

We have tools to generate a commit message in the correct format, 
such as “etc/committer.scm” or the “add” yasnippet when using 
Magit.

-- 
Ricardo