Re: [PATCH] add go@1.5

[Leo Famulari <leo@famulari.name>]

On Sun, Jul 10, 2016 at 07:52:08PM -0400, Matthew Jordan wrote:
> * gnu/packages/golang.scm (go-1.5): New variable.

I don't have the knowledge to comment on the Go specific stuff in this
package, but I have some more general comments.

The tests 'runtime' and 'cmd/go' failed due to the default 3 minute
time-limit when building on my slow machine, this thing:
<http://pcengines.ch/apu2b4.htm>

They passed in 193 and 216 seconds, respectively, when I set the
environment variable GO_TEST_TIMEOUT_SCALE to 9999, as suggested in this
bug report: <https://github.com/golang/go/issues/12404>

I've used the system-on-a-chip (SOC) mentioned in that bug report
(Allwinner A20), and my slow computer is faster than it. Since we
support ARMv7 and the A20 is a very popular ARMv7 SOC, I think we should
set this variable in the package definition.

> +(define-public go-1.5
> +  (package
> +    (inherit go-1.4)

We should try to inherit as much as possible from go-1.4, and when we
can't, we should at least try to use the same style (indentation, etc),
so that it's clear to readers what is different.

Can anyone say if it's possible to inherit specific build phases that
are common between the two packages?

> +    (name "go")

I believe the name should be inherited, so this can be removed.

> +         (add-before 'build 'prebuild

If it is possible to inherit some phases and as mentioned above, maybe
this phase could be split into parts that are common between go-1.4 and
go-1.5 and parts that are different.