Le 10 mai 2020 05:57:22 GMT-04:00, zimoun <[email protected]> a écrit : >Dear, > >On Sat, 9 May 2020 at 22:19, Josh Marshall ><[email protected]> wrote: > >> [...] naming conventions between the source project, [...] , and guix >itself have some drift. > >Some packages already track upstream name: see the field '(proprieties >(upstream-name . "foo"))', e.g., the package "r-flowsom", > >> The approach which I think makes the most sense is to add an optional >but encouraged field in package definitions which takes a list of >alternative package names. When using `guix search` this field could >also be evaluated, and when `guix package -i` is invoked and the target >does not exist, these aliases could be searched through for similar >names to the non-existing target and suggest the actual package they >might have intended. > >Well, the 'proprieties' field is not used by 'package->recutils' which >is the function used by "guix show" (and "guix search"). I do not >have an option if an extra field "upstream-name" should be added or >not. > >However, from my point of view, "Explicit is better than implicit." as >said any good Zen. ;-) >So, I appears to me a bad idea to implicitly install 'bar' when I type >"guix package -i foo" because 'bar' is an alternative name I am not >aware of.
The proposal was about suggesting anotger nameqwhen no package was found, not to install something else. > >IMHO, the fix is to improve the synposis and the description to be >able to reach the expected package. If the description is >well-written, then "guix search bar" should return the package "foo". > > >Well, do you have specific example in mind? > $ guix install gcc guix install: error: gcc: unknown package Hint: did you mean `guix install gcc-toolchain`? Since not being able to install gcc is surprising, and you don't always know about gcc-toolchain. $ guix install gpg Hint: did you mean `guix install gnupg`? Often a name is used to refer to a package, and it's annoying to go through a search, especially when you have to filter a big output. I'd use the search when I don't have a specific package in mind. For instance, looking for a font or a game: guix search roguelike "Give me a list of roguelike games" guix search font japanese "Give me a list of fonts I can use to see Japanese texts" If I have to do "guix search gpg" I really mean "give me the package named gpg but you stupid guix devs in your infinite wisdom have decided to use another name" ;) The first use-case is good, the second one is frustrating, don't you think? > >All the best, >simon
