[bug#28690] provide a lib output for boost

[zimoun <zimon.toutoune@gmail.com>]

Hi,

This patch #28690 [1] is about adding an output to boost.  The aim is to
reduce the closure size.

The last message if from Dec. 2017 and indicates some issues.


1: <http://issues.guix.gnu.org/issue/28690>


On Tue, 03 Oct 2017 at 17:34, Dave Love <dave.love@manchester.ac.uk> wrote:

> I mentioned elsewhere noticing the large size of boost in closures.
> I've now realized what the problem was with making a lib output, and
> done one, as below.  However, presumably it should have a dependency of
> out on lib for compatibility, and I don't know the right way to do that.
>
> The lib package is 17MiB, and the headers are 108MiB.

Now, the size is:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
$ guix size boost
store item                                  total    self
/gnu/store/rwv6khi7hg3hrhij9kimxh53mvg8ksd9-boost-1.77.0           262.0   149.7  57.1%
/gnu/store/7sik9fp2ffvnr7l01s423x4r5pn75rf9-icu4c-69.1             110.7    38.0  14.5%
/gnu/store/2fk1gz2s7ppdicynscra9b19byrrr866-glibc-2.33              38.3    36.6  14.0%
/gnu/store/90lbavffg0csrf208nw0ayj1bz5knl47-gcc-10.3.0-lib          71.7    33.4  12.7%
/gnu/store/ggrih6fgnflxs6k87m8q2l9ky0za8y1z-bash-static-5.1.8        1.7     1.7   0.6%
/gnu/store/72kpdqplq4nc87fm7ch47kxy3nlkzsyx-xz-5.2.5                73.7     1.1   0.4%
/gnu/store/vx6vfbmmazvfi7vp8xyjn2mcyylvw9gn-bash-minimal-5.1.8      39.3     1.0   0.4%
/gnu/store/w6zv2mz56wyxr471q38a3cmzm4iqimy8-bzip2-1.0.8             73.1     0.4   0.2%
/gnu/store/2i0zpa5w320y8m4zbqk1va8vs6dbawv0-zlib-1.2.11             71.9     0.2   0.1%
total: 262.0 MiB
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---


Note that that’s a core-updates change.

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
$ guix refresh -l boost | cut -f1 -d':'
Building the following 4921 packages would ensure 7338 dependent packages are rebuilt
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---


On Mon, 04 Dec 2017 at 09:19, Thomas Danckaert <post@thomasdanckaert.be> wrote:

>>> Meanwhile I'll try to build those 97 packages, stay tuned ;-)
>>
>> have you been able to build some of these packages to verify that this
>> patch is fine?
>
> I tried to build them all, but only a few packages built successfully (those).
> Most packages probably just need boost:lib added to their inputs (I already
> fixed a few in my local tree), but sometimes the build fails for other
> reasons, and verifying them all takes time (the list includes things like
> vigra and libreoffice).
>
> I should have some time in the holiday period, but help is welcome :)
>
> The updated list and a few patches are on my other computer, I'll post them
> when I get home.

Therefore, if I understand correctly, some work remains.  The question
is: is it worth to complete such work about adding more outputs to
boost?

WDYT?


Cheers,
simon