Ludovic Courtès 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