Thanks for the comments. Just a couple points, happy to wait for Ludovic to get back.
On Fri 07 Aug 2015 14:22, "Thompson, David" <[email protected]> writes: >> In the case of "guix install", yes. However what would you show for >> "guix install --help"? What would error messages show: "guix package" >> or "guix install"? Would the user perceive it as a separate command or >> would the fact that it is an alias be visible to the user? > > If we were to go the aliasing route, we could still make the --help > and --version flags show 'guix install' with a simple pattern match on > the arguments list. You would have to modify the set of arguments as well. What it mean to say e.g. "guix install --remove foo bar" ? If it were supported as an alias and all guix package options were there, "guix package --remove foo bar" would remove foo and bar, but you might expect "guix install --remove foo bar" to remove foo but install bar -- but even then "guix install --remove" is nonsensical. To me I see the advantage of guix install as "paving the cowpaths" -- making a common use case easy while still pointing to more powerful tools. > every other tool encapsulates it's full functionality under a single > subcommand: import, system, environment, gc, lint, etc. This is a very slight advantage from the maintainer POV but from the user's POV it's a negative thing, I think. "guix package" just does too much: for example try "guix package --install foo --list-available". It doesn't install foo at all, or even try! Andy
