Re: Merging the “binary” NPM importer?

[pinoaffe <pinoaffe@airmail.cc>]

Hi,

zimoun writes:
> Instead of a strong inclusion, one could imagine this importer as a
> regular package using GUIX_EXTENSION_PATH.  For instance, it could be:
>
>    guix install guix-import-npm
>
> then something like:
>
>   guix import-npm <options>
>
> This just works, modulo some polishing and doc. :-)  For an example,
> see the package gwl.  An example using another strategy is using a
> channel, for instance
> <https://framagit.org/tyreunom/guix-home-manager>.
>
> I have not checked if this "extension" system could work for
> subcommands as the importers, i.e., having something like:
>
>    guix import npm
>
> where this 'npm' would not be part of Guix proper (not in
> guix/import/) but instead would be a package extending Guix.

This would currently not work, but I've submitted a patch that would
make it work (with some performance concerns), and I think it should be
possible to resolve or at least significantly lessen those concerns.

However, I think inclusion in guix proper would encourage usage and make
maintenance easier (since maintaining two tightly coupled but separate
codebases is more work than maintaining a single codebase with the same
functionality)

While I would not be opposed to a package- or channel-based approach
(I initially set out to make a guix-npm-binary channel afterall),
merging it into guix-proper would definitely have my preference.

Kind regards,
pinoaffe