Re: Package file indexing

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

Dear,


On Fri, 3 Jan 2020 at 17:01, raingloom <raingloom@riseup.net> wrote:

> On Thu, 2020-01-02 at 23:50 +0100, zimoun wrote:

> >  2. because it allows (in the near future) mixed research: "guix
> > search bin/hg python" applying the "python" filter only to the
> > packages returned by "bin/hg". And "guix search python bin/hg" search
> > the binary file "hg" only to the packages matching "python.

> What about files in root (so, ones with no slashes in their path, at
> least in your syntax) and files you don't know the full path of, only
> their basename?

I agree.
This second bullet was about composing the "regular package" search
and the "file" search; not really about the syntax to switch between
the two kind of search. :-)
Below the quoting you did, I also described something like "guix
search gmsh.h". ;-)

The syntax '/' should be an option but not the only one, IMHO. We can imagine:

 - guix search file:gmsh.h gimp
 - guix search bin/gmsh gimp
 - guix search file:ieee*.sty bin/gmsh latex
 - guix search file:bin/gmsh
 - guix search package:gimp
etc.


> To avoid confusion, I think this should be an option/subcommand of
> search. Something like -path and -name in find(1).

I agree that explicit keywords, e.g., "file:" and "package:", avoid confusion.


All the best,
simon