[Nix-dev] Re: [Nix-commits] SVN commit: nix - 18950 - MarcWeber - in nixos/trunk: modules/installer/cd-dvd modules/installer/tools modules/installer/tools/installer2 modules/installer/tools/nixos-bootstrap-archive tests

[Eelco Dolstra]

Hi,

Marc Weber wrote:

> Excerpts from Eelco Dolstra's message of Tue Dec 15 12:40:43 +0100 2009:
>> I would prefer to have big changes like this to go into a branch where they can
>> be reviewed before they go into the trunk.

> Well. I didn't break any existing code. So I don't see a big reason for
> doing so.

Sure, but it does create a user-visible change (i.e. a new installer appearing
in $PATH).  And experimental code that we end up not really using has a tendency
to stick around for a long time and clutter the code base.

> Other communities (such as git :) post patches to the mailinglist and
> maintainers apply them.

Yes, posting them to the mailing list is one way.  But if you commit them to a
branch, you get the commit mail (including the diff) for free.

>> Also, what are the use cases for the new installer?  And what is a "bootstrap
>> archive"?
> This time I even pasted the README-NIXOS-BOOTSTRAP:
> http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.distributions.nixos/3320

I don't see a use case there.  I.e.: what problems does the new installer
address?  An example would be "make it easy to create a bootable USB stick
containing NixOS".

> I'm still waiting for an answer whether I should rewrite the passing of
> lib in all-package.nix everywhere because you can access it by
> stdenv.lib ?

Yes, seems like a good idea.  "stringsWithDeps" is also passed in as an argument
in many places, which is unnecessary since it's in lib.

> grub defaulting to version = 1 breaking installation is most important
> now. We really should fix it somehow.

Right now GRUB 2 still breaks some configurations (like my machine at home).
I'll try to fix that.

-- 
Eelco Dolstra | http://www.st.ewi.tudelft.nl/~dolstra/