Re: Transformations Shell Syntax

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hello!

"jgart" <jgart@dismail.de> skribis:

> Uses specified commit hash:
>
> guix build emacs-ement@8b56efa9387262514daf63151d41c9e111e79567
>
> Uses specified commit hash (short):
>
> guix build emacs-ement@8b56efa
>
> Uses latest upstream release:
>
> guix build emacs-ement@latest
>
> Uses upstream version 0.8.2 if not packaged:
>
> guix build emacs-ement@0.8.2
>
> Uses the latest commit in the wip/find-room branch:
>
> guix build emacs-ement@wip/find-room

I sympathize with the will to get a more compact way to express
transformations.

Right now, command-line tools parse package specs by calling
‘specification->package+output’.  There are no restrictions on version
fields: “8b56efa9387262514daf63151d41c9e111e79567” and “latest” are
perfectly valid version fields.  Thus, if the syntax above was
implemented, we’d introduce ambiguity.

Consequently, rather than overload “@”, I believe another syntax would
need to be found.

Thanks,
Ludo’.