Re: [PATCH 2/4] emacs: Add 'guix-devel-download-package-source'.

[Alex Kost]

Ludovic Courtès (2015-10-08 01:10 +0300) wrote:

[...]
>>>> for example "" (an empty string).  Also I believe people begin to
>>>> write a new package from some template, so you have a working skeleton
>>>> of future package with all required fields from the very beginning.
>>>> Then after filling an origin 'uri', you could "C-c . s" to download
>>>> the source and get its hash.
>>>
>>> Hmm.  I’m skeptical.  :-)
>>
>> Sorry, I didn't get it.  Skeptical that people start from a template?
>
> Yes, it feels weird to me, the idea that an <origin> object with bogus
> values would be created just for the sake of satisfying the download
> tool.

Hm, I have an opposite opinion: for me it is weird to write a package
from scratch.  I usually start from a package template that has all
required fields (including <origin>) or even I just copy an existing
package and then modify the fields I need.

I wonder, do you start to write a package from scratch?

> Wouldn’t the explanation in the manual of how to use this be relatively
> complex?  That’s a good benchmark.

As I see it, it is not complex:

«Download a source of the package defined by the current variable
definition and print its SHA256 hash.  This command has the same meaning
as running @code{guix download} on the package source (@pxref{Invoking
guix download})»

Anyway, after all I'm not going to add this command to not give people
an incentive not to check signatures.

>>> What about, instead, providing an interactive function that would prompt
>>> for a URL, run ‘guix download’ on that, and emit an ‘origin’ template at
>>> point with all the info?
>>
>> I see several problems here, but the main is: this sounds like it should
>> be synchronous: you give an URL, wait until the source is downloaded and
>> finally get the template at point.  But downloading can take a VERY long
>> time, so I don't think it will be a usable command.
>
> Good point.  But there’s the same problem with what you propose no?  The
> user somehow has to wait for the download to complete?

Well, sure you also need to wait for the download, but your Emacs won't
be freezed for all this time, so you can do something else while it is
being downloaded in the REPL.

>>> (Him or her.)
>>
>> Yes, I just always say/write "he", "him", etc.
>
> Yeah, but I think it’s best to try and avoid this language bias (see
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-neutral_language>.)  We want to
> welcome all human beings to our Guix party, don’t we?  :-)

Wow, I didn't realize it could be counted as an offence.  In Russian (my
native language) a phrase "A user does something, because he ..." is
absolutely neutral.  Thanks for the info!

-- 
Alex