Re: Ruby install

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi, Pjotr,

Pjotr Prins <address@hidden> skribis:

> I have a working Ruby installation at
>
>   
> https://gitorious.org/guix/pjotrps-guix/source/61d21fad72d49cbbf0135b5ac7362bb0f64167fa:gnu/packages/ruby.scm
>
> This is my first GUIX package (I have written Nix packages before), so
> please have a look.

Overall looks good to me!  A couple of comments:

59.            (substitute* (filter file-exists?
60.                             '( 
61.                               "ext/readline/readline.c"
62.                             ))

Here we can assume that the file exists I believe, so the ‘filter’ call
can be removed.

67.            (substitute* (filter file-exists?
68.                             '(
69.                               "configure"
70.                               "configure.in"
71.                               "Makefile.in"
72.                               "ext/pty/pty.c"
73.                               "io.c"
74.                               "lib/mkmf.rb"
75.                               "process.c"
76.                               
"test/rubygems/test_gem_ext_configure_builder.rb"
77.                               "test/rdoc/test_rdoc_parser.rb"
78.                               "test/ruby/test_rubyoptions.rb"
79.                               "test/ruby/test_process.rb"
80.                               "test/ruby/test_system.rb"
81.                               "tool/rbinstall.rb"
82.                               "tool/config.guess"
83.                              ))
84.              (("/bin/sh") (which "sh"))))

Likewise.  In addition, I think only the .rb and .c files need to be
patched, since the others are already handled automatically, normally.

(In the future please send it as an in-line patch.)

> I intend to patch rubygems so gems get installed in a $HOME dir
> specifically named after the SHA. This will accomodate people who just
> want to use rubygems.
>
> I am also going to add particalur gems to GUIX, each going into its
> own expression. That will be a bit tricky because I don't want
> Rubygems to install dependencies. Not sure how the Nix guys did it, so
> I will study that.

It may be helpful to have a ‘ruby-build-system’, akin to
‘python-build-system’ but with the right incantations (info "(guix)
Build Systems").

> Do we have a HOWTO on how to run expressions in the Guile debugger?
> Never used that and would like to see how individual statements
> evaluate in LISP.

Basically there are two approaches.  From the command line, like this:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
$ ./pre-inst-env guile
GNU Guile 2.0.11.20-4338f
Copyright (C) 1995-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Guile comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `,show w'.
This program is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions; type `,show c' for details.

Enter `,help' for help.
scheme@(guile-user)> ,use (gnu packages python)
scheme@(guile-user)> ,use (guix)
scheme@(guile-user)> (define s (open-connection))
scheme@(guile-user)> python
$1 = #<package python-3.3.5 gnu/packages/python.scm:46 2946840>
scheme@(guile-user)> (package-derivation s python)
$2 = #<derivation /gnu/store/k0lvsy8jwcw0amv1rsmii2cvwfnmn2gz-python-3.3.5.drv 
=> /gnu/store/ij8xgynicdmnzb7pzmyb6bqi17s0ll3y-python-3.3.5 3f4fdc0>
scheme@(guile-user)> (build-derivations s (list $2))
$3 = #t
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

But the best thing, if you use Emacs, is to use Geiser, as noted in
‘HACKING’.  In addition to a REPL, it brings stuff like autodoc,
jump-to-definition, expression evaluation from the buffer, etc.

> I am really impressed with GUIX, and I think it is a no-brainer to use
> a real functional programming language for this. Thanks Ludo and
> others!  I just wish I could use GUIX on servers where I don't have (and
> won't get) root access. Or is there a way? With Nix I could run as a
> normal user.

It’s the same as Nix, which means that if the daemon cannot run as root,
then it’s usable in a “degraded” mode (info "(guix) Build Environment
Setup").

HTH,
Ludo’.