[Nix-dev] Re: Multiple packages from one source package

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi,

Marc Weber <marco-oweber at gmx.de> writes:

> You can compile a pacakge twice and remove the non header /non lib
> stuff.
> Benefits: You don't have to move the libs perhaps circumventing some
> trouble ?
> But compile time will be doubled.

I mentioned it in a previous post but compiling several times sucks IMO.
;-)

Actually, being a Debian user, I'm starting to understand that the basic
assumption behind source deployment systems (Gentoo, *BSD, NixOS, etc.)
is that users really have *plenty* of disk space: if you have enough
space to install all the tools need at compilation-time, you surely have
enough space to retain (potentially useless) headers, libs, etc.
(Gentoo allows users to pass configure `--without-' flags, which
slightly mitigates this problem.)

That's unfortunate because it completely precludes their use in a wide
range of scenarios, not to mention "older" machines.  My understanding
of Nix channels is that they were intended to get the best of both
worlds, but it seems that more work is needed to benefit from the space
savings offered by binary distributions.

(That said, NixOS' salient points may well outweigh such
inconveniences.  ;-))

Thanks,
Ludovic.