Re: some questions about GUIX

[Sam Halliday <sam.halliday@gmail.com>]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 17 bytes --]

Thanks Ludovic,


[-- Attachment #2.1: Type: text/plain, Size: 2492 bytes --]

Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org> writes:
>> * Integration with existing software distribution managers
>>
>> How are you planning on handling these more modern languages that
>> manage their own dependencies?
>
> Currently, we import those languages’ dependency trees into the Guix
> dependency tree, and so some additional QA (make sure tests pass,
> provide adequate licensing info, descriptions and synopses, etc.)

OK, I'm not entirely sure what that means for JVM / Maven Central
applications but it sounds like you're doing something sane.

The important thing for JVM applications is that each jar doesn't end up
getting tracked as a separate entity, because that just makes it
infeasible and painful to package anything through the official
channels.

The main problem I want to avoid is the situation where it can take
longer to package a small application than it does to write it.


>> * Docker image
>
> I don’t think there’ll be an “official” presence there, but everyone is
> welcome to do it.

OK, I'll watch out for one appearing.


> Guix’s build daemon uses containers to perform isolated builds:
>
>   http://www.gnu.org/software/guix/manual/html_node/Features.html

Interesting. I wonder if you wouldn't benefit from a docker / drone
network, just as a distribution mechanism for your own build farm. It
would be a shame to expend effort on that since it is somewhat something
of a solved problem (and purely a DevOps matter, not a user concern).


>> * Issue tracker / comm channels
>>
>> Will you be continuing to use debbugs, savannah and mailing lists going
>> forward or would you consider moving to a modern community management
>> system like gitlab?
>
> I hear the appeal of GitLab and the like.  However, as was recently
> discussed on guix-devel, while I think we must find ways to improve our
> workflows (for instance, tracking patches is becoming tricky), I don’t
> see us moving to one of those web-based approaches for several reasons:
>
>   https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2015-12/msg00429.html

I've never used GitLab, but I understand that it is free software. The
thread above seems to suggest that it is proprietary.


Perhaps a challenge as large as GUIX itself, but I'd love to see
something from GNU to genuinely compete with GitHub on a technical level
and gitlab seems like the closest thing available in the free software
world.


-- 
Best regards,
Sam

[-- Attachment #2.2: signature.asc --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 180 bytes --]