[Nix-dev] Integrating a Nix expression into the set of packages

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi,

I just wrote a simple Nix expression for GNU Guile 1.8.2:

  {stdenv, fetchurl, gmp, readline}:

  stdenv.mkDerivation {
    name = "guile-1.8.2";
    src = fetchurl {
      url = "ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/guile/guile-1.8.2.tar.gz";
      md5 = "a4b64a992deae0532f8015bcc6c40784";
      sha1 = "b5c624b152a45f302e185e20a468a02f2eb73e38";
    };

    buildInputs = [gmp readline];
  }

Now, I would like to try it out, but "nix-build guile-1.8.nix" won't do
the job, because I need to fill in the arguments.  Section
"5.1.3. Composition" of the manual suggests adding the new derivation to
`all-packages.nix', but that seems rather inconvenient.

What is the recommended way to add new packages that build upon those
already in `all-packages.nix'?

Thanks,
Ludovic.