Re: Profiles/manifests-related command line interface enhancements

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

On Sat, 16 Nov 2019 at 23:27, Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org> wrote:

> > Me too :-) It's "guix package" that is the worst offender in my
> > opinion. It does two distinct things: querying the package database and
> > managing profiles. And now that we have "guix search" for queries,
>
> We also have ‘guix show’, but there’s no standalone command equivalent
> to ‘--list-installed’, ‘--list-available’, ‘--list-profiles’, and
> ‘--list-generations’.

IMHO, we should have a generic alias system "à la" Git or an UI
modifier via channel.

It is not reasonable to duplicate all the commands just for
convenience. Because convenience mainly depends on personal
preference.

The same way that we add "guix workflow" or "guix home", a forward
move should to package some "guix flavor", e.g., add the command "guix
profile" via channel (or package). Then simply "guix install
guix-profile" will add the very command.
Konrad already proposed similar.


>   1. Arrange so that ‘--ad-hoc’ becomes the default in ‘guix
>      environment’, and add a ‘--devel’ (?) option for what’s currently
>      the default.

I agree. David proposed that in "The future of 'guix environment'".

https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2017-08/msg00300.html

And as Konrad mentioned, I prefer "--inputs-of" instead of "--devel".


>      Tricky because of compatibility considerations, but would be an
>      improvement, and goes in the direction of shortening the distance
>      between ‘guix environment’ and ‘guix package’.

Let bump the version and break compatibility. :-p


>   2. Add that same ‘--devel’ option to ‘guix package’.

And to be consistent, why not add a similar option to manifest (via
"package-environment-inputs" exporting as "<option-name>" same than
"--option-name"; I opt for option-name equal inputs-of instead of
devel :-))



All the best,
simon