Re: Rethinking guix pull [was Re: Heads-up: transition to Guile 2.2]

[Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer@gmail.com>]

On Tue, May 16, 2017 at 8:55 AM, Ricardo Wurmus <rekado@elephly.net> wrote:
>
> myglc2 <myglc2@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> I believe there will be many guix "users" that want to run from git
>> checkout. They just may not know it, yet. They will want it not just
>> because they are trying to get around the limitations of git pull.  For
>> example, even users that don't do development have occasion to...
>>
>> - select non-stock package config options
>>
>> - need/apply/use patches from guix developers
>>
>> - need/apply/use patches from package developers
>>
>> - need/apply/use some crazy stuff from a friend
>
> For those things I believe it to be better to use the package rewriting
> framework, i.e. *adding* package variants that have additional patches
> or modified configuration options.
>
> Using the git checkout directly comes with too many disadvantages for
> users who are not developers.  Git’s UI is famously weird, and there
> hardly is anyone who really loves it.
>
> Using the git checkout also requires the use of “make clean-go” whenever
> the ABI changes, and occasionally even necessitates re-bootstrapping, or
> in the case of upgrading to Guile 2.2 re-configuration.
>
>> Furthermore, ISTM that current guix packaging is a rather nasty tease:
>> Our user installs guix/guixSD, does 'guix pull' & 'guix-edit', and what
>> do they get?
>>
>> READ-ONLY source in an editor that BEEPS when they TRY TO CHANGE IT :-(
>>
>> Right out of the box this seem contrary to the Guix promise of _freedom_
>> and _hackability_.
>
> True, “guix edit” could do better, e.g. create a new package variant in
> a user module that inherits from the given package and puts the cursor
> in the right spot to make changes right there.  Upon saving, the package
> could be used right away with GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH.
>
> I think that a first step towards improving the experience with “guix
> pull” is to build Guix continuously on Hydra and tell “guix pull” to
> download that.  Users would no longer have to wait for compilation on
> their local machines, removing a big incentive to go with a git
> checkout.  Maybe we should do this first to stop the worst problems,
> buying us a bit more time to implement channels.

+1