On Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 01:34:26PM +0100, Sree Harsha Totakura wrote: > I just observed that `guix build' is downloading source tarballs from > Hydra. Is this supposed to be a feature? If so, what is the rationale > behind not trying to download the source ball from mirrors or upstream > download addresses?
I think it is a feature for tarballs that have disappeared from upstream (it sounds a bit crazy, but some projects delete old versions, or move them to a separate location). Some also modify the tarball without giving it a new name. I think it is a bug because usually hydra is slower than upstream. Using "--no-substitutes" prevents the download of tarballs, but also the maybe desired download of binaries from hydra. I would be in favour of downloading tarballs from upstream by default, and, if it fails, keeping tarball downloads from hydra as a last resort. Andreas
