From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic =?utf-8?Q?Court=C3=A8s?=) Subject: Re: Registering GC roots Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2015 17:41:00 +0200 Message-ID: <87mvviizxv.fsf@gnu.org> References: <87io6b943m.fsf@gnu.org> <878u75ql2q.fsf@gnu.org> <87eggxfc5o.fsf@openmailbox.org> <87k2qpp1ko.fsf@gnu.org> <20151014170227.3a293b5a@openmailbox.org> <874mhsiae1.fsf@openmailbox.org> <87h9lrw7w3.fsf_-_@gnu.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:51594) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Zn780-0000n0-Jt for guix-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 16 Oct 2015 11:41:09 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Zn77v-0001Ga-KZ for guix-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 16 Oct 2015 11:41:08 -0400 In-Reply-To: (Alex Vong's message of "Fri, 16 Oct 2015 20:56:51 +0800") List-Id: "Development of GNU Guix and the GNU System distribution." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: guix-devel-bounces+gcggd-guix-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: guix-devel-bounces+gcggd-guix-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: Alex Vong Cc: guix-devel Alex Vong skribis: > On 16/10/2015, Ludovic Court=C3=A8s wrote: >> Alex Vong skribis: >> >>> Talking about interactive CLIs, in general I am not a fan of it too, >>> especially after you get used to the program. That's why I am using >>> plain apt-get instead of aptitude which uses ncurses. However, I will >>> say it is sometimes useful. For example, in git clean, there is an >>> `-i' switch, which can help if you don't want to mess with your >>> .gitignore file. So perhaps making something GC roots is like putting >>> it in .gitignore in git, but we should still provide a way for >>> interacting GC-ing. >> >> Currently there are two documented ways to add GC roots from the command >> line: creating a profile with =E2=80=98guix package=E2=80=99, and using = the -r option of >> =E2=80=98guix build.=E2=80=99 >> >> What David suggests is to add a similar -r option to =E2=80=98guix envir= onment=E2=80=99, >> which sounds good to me. >> > I see. So currently there is no way to make an environment GC root and > David is proposing using -r to achieve it. Am I right? Exactly. >> The GC process itself will not be interactive. Who would want to hit >> =E2=80=98y=E2=80=99 or =E2=80=98n=E2=80=99 for each one of the thousands= of files considered? :-) >> > Indeed, option 3 [3. ask for every directories (like interactive > `rm')] looks silly. What is your opinions on a big yes/no? Perhaps it > is useful for beginners who may not know the "power" of GC? Like having =E2=80=98guix gc=E2=80=99 ask =E2=80=9CAre you sure you want to= collect garbage?=E2=80=9D, with the option to bypass it with, say, =E2=80=98guix gc -f=E2=80=99? With my biased old-timer=E2=80=99s viewpoint ;-), I would tend to believe t= hat the documentation is clear about what it means to collect garbage, and that the user knows what they=E2=80=99re doing when they press Enter. What do others think? Ludo=E2=80=99.