[Nix-dev] Re: Boost libraries

[Isaac Dupree]

Lluís Batlle wrote:
> 2009/4/8 Peter Simons <simons at cryp.to>:
> > Hi Lluís,
> >
> >  > If you want to build a derivation with the derivation of an older
> >  > boost, you should write an expression for that, maybe in ~/.nixpkgs.
> >
> > that approach is not particularly satisfying. Free software ought to be
> > shared. When you write a Nix expression that's useful to you, chances are
> > that it will be useful to others, too. Keeping that expression to
> > yourself means that others will have to re-invent the wheel.
>
> I thought you talked on the supposition of your own development
> environment, not about public packages that may need an older boost.
> For publishable expressions I agree with you.

well, for popular libraries, it is common for people (testers, developers -- 
they're still people, and not alone in their needs) to test their own software 
that they develop, against older versions of libraries, to make sure that it 
still works with older versions of the library.  That's an end-user purpose of 
the library, where it's useful in its own right to have old versions of 
libraries in nixpkgs (at least for libraries that are sufficiently popular, or 
some other criteria).

-Isaac