Difference between guix/build and guix/build-system

Difference between guix/build and guix/build-system

[Vasilii Smirnov]

I've noticed that build systems in Guix are split in two parts:
- guix/build-system/${name}.scm
- guix/build/${name}-build-system.scm

where ${name} can be "cmake", or "node", etc... So, the question is: 
what's the reason for this split?

If I want to write a new build system, what code should I put in 
"guix/build", and what in "guix/build-system"?

Re: Difference between guix/build and guix/build-system

[Hartmut Goebel]

Am 11.05.24 um 16:45 schrieb Vasilii Smirnov:
> where ${name} can be "cmake", or "node", etc... So, the question is: 
> what's the reason for this split?


For building, parts need to be "packaged" and put into the 
build-environment. (Can't tell which directory is which one.)


>
> If I want to write a new build system, what code should I put in 
> "guix/build", and what in "guix/build-system"? 

Best is to base on an existing build system close to the one you want so 
create and do like this does.


-- 
Regards
Hartmut Goebel

| Hartmut Goebel          | h.goebel@crazy-compilers.com               |
| www.crazy-compilers.com | compilers which you thought are impossible |

Re: Difference between guix/build and guix/build-system

[pelzflorian (Florian Pelz)]

Hello Vasilii.  In addition to Hartmut’s recommendation to imitate,
there also is a manual section; run

info "(guix)Source Tree Structure"

or visit

https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/Source-Tree-Structure.html

explaining what guix/build/…-build-system are:

 (guix build gnu-build-system)
 (guix build cmake-build-system)
 (guix build pyproject-build-system)

 Implementation of build systems, and in particular definition of their build phases (see Build Phases). 

Regards,
Florian

Re: Difference between guix/build and guix/build-system

[Vasilii Smirnov]

On 5/14/24 12:24, pelzflorian (Florian Pelz) wrote:
> Hello Vasilii.  In addition to Hartmut’s recommendation to imitate,
> there also is a manual section; run
> 
> info "(guix)Source Tree Structure"
> 
> or visit
> 
> https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/html_node/Source-Tree-Structure.html
> 
> explaining what guix/build/…-build-system are:
> 
>   (guix build gnu-build-system)
>   (guix build cmake-build-system)
>   (guix build pyproject-build-system)
> 
>   Implementation of build systems, and in particular definition of their build phases (see Build Phases).
> 
> Regards,
> Florian

Oh, nice, I completely missed that page. Thanks! Although it would be 
nice if it went into more detail... Like, I see that both "build" and 
"build-system" parts define the "${name}-build" function (e.g. 
cmake-build). But the definitions are different.

The way I interpret these docs is that everything in the "build" part is 
solely for use from inside of gexps? And the "build-system" part is for 
use by the host code, that embeds these gexps. That would explain 
duplicate function names then...

Re: Difference between guix/build and guix/build-system

[pelzflorian (Florian Pelz)]

Hi,

Vasilii Smirnov <vasilii.smirnov@mailbox.org> writes:
> Oh, nice, I completely missed that page. Thanks! Although it would be
> nice if it went into more detail... Like, I see that both "build" and
> "build-system" parts define the "${name}-build" function
> (e.g. cmake-build). But the definitions are different.
>
> The way I interpret these docs is that everything in the "build" part
> is solely for use from inside of gexps?

Almost, there are exceptions like guix/build/syscalls.scm.

> And the "build-system" part is
> for use by the host code, that embeds these gexps. That would explain
> duplicate function names then...

I don’t know well; in the case of cmake-build, I guess so.  Note
however: The proper term is build-side code.  Gexps are an example of
build-side code, but phases are older than gexps and are build-side code
too.  guix/build-system/cmake.scm is older than gexps, but uses gexps
now.

Regards,
Florian