Re: How to install GWL?

[Ricardo Wurmus <rekado@elephly.net>]

Kyle Meyer <kyle@kyleam.com> writes:

> Hi Ricardo,
>
> Ricardo Wurmus <rekado@elephly.net> writes:
>
>> How should the GWL be installed for maximum convenience and
>> compatibility?  Does it make sense to install it as a channel so that it
>> is tied to the user’s current version of Guix?  That would be pretty
>> awkward and less convenient than just typing “guix install gwl”.
>>
>> If we stick with installing the workflow language as a package, how
>> should package installation be handled?  Should all workflows require a
>> channels definition for reproducibility, so that we could instantiate an
>> inferior Guix using the exact specified version?  If none is provided we
>> could fall back to the latest version of Guix.
>>
>> How does that sound?
>
> The last combination sounds good to me: support/encourage specifying the
> channel definition in the workflow, and fall back to the latest version
> of Guix.  Though perhaps it'd be better to fall back to the user's
> current version instead?  My thinking is that the user's version would
> be a less frequently moving target, be more likely to have higher
> substitute availability, and would more closely match any debugging and
> testing the user is doing with, say, `guix environment'.

Yes, I agree.  I suppose we could achieve this by simply spawning “guix
repl” and rely on the environment to give us the user’s current version
of Guix.  Then we connect to the spawned REPL.

-- 
Ricardo