[bug#45984] [PATCH 0/5] Fix recursive importers

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi!

zimoun <zimon.toutoune@gmail.com> skribis:

> On Tue, 26 Jan 2021 at 23:24, Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org> wrote:
>
>>> $ guix import gem do-not-exist -r
>>> #f
>>>
>>> $ ./pre-inst-env guix import gem do-not-exist -r
>>> guix import: error: failed to download meta-data for package 'do-not-exist'
>>
>> I think we do want this error message.  Why should we ignore
>> non-existent packages when doing ‘-r’?  It would think they’re still a
>> problem, no?
>
> Do you mean instead of displaying an error about the query (what the
> patch does), displaying which dependent package has failed?  Something
> along these lines:
>
>   $ ./pre-inst-env guix import gem foo -r
>   guix import: error: failed to download meta-data for package 'bar'
>
>
> If it is what you have in mind, it needs to really re-think how
> ’recursive-import’ works.  Not only fixing the corner case. :-)

I was looking at hunks like this one:

   (match (fetch-elpa-package name repo)
     (#false
-     (raise (condition
-             (&message
-              (message (format #false
-                               "couldn't find meta-data for ELPA package `~a'."
-                               name))))))
+     (values #f '()))

… and I interpreted it as meaning failures would now be silently
ignored.

But I guess what happens is that #f is interpreted by the caller as a
failure, and that’s how we get the “failed to download meta-data”
message, right?

If so, forget my comment.  Sorry for the confusion!

Ludo’.