Re: Packaging JavaScript libraries

[ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès)]

Dave Thompson <davet@fsf.org> skribis:

> JavaScript source files are typically bundled in a web applications
> source tree or bundled by a JavaScript only package manager such as
> Bower.  Would it make sense to package JavaScript libraries in Guix?
> I'm not sure how to approach the packaging of JavaScript at the system
> level.

I think there are two cases:

  1. Web browser JavaScript libraries;
  2. Node.js (and similar) JavaScript libraries.

Packaging #2 seems useful to me, and since there’s already a widespread
packaging format for that (npm), it should be easy to convert them
automatically, like someone did for Nix.  For users the benefit is (1)
that there’s no need to switch to a different package manager, (2) you
get all the cool features of Guix, and (3) non-JS dependencies are also
handled (npm can compiled C++ extensions, but it relies on having a
working C++ environment at hand.)

I’ve just discovered Bower.  My guess is that there would be less
incentive to use Guix for #1, because it’s a tool targeting specifically
Web developers.

My 2¢,
Ludo’.