[Nix-dev] Re: Reorganization of the nixpkg file hierarchy

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi,

John Altobelli <acocaracha at gmail.com>
writes:

> I feel this system is much easier to locate packages and more friendly
> to new developers.

Having never looked at Gentoo portage before I started contributing to
Nixpkgs, I don't share this feeling.  ;-)

Nixpkgs' layout is documented under
`maintainers/docs/classification.txt' and is quite intuitive, except in
some rare cases (e.g., the `misc' catch-all directories).  Having a
single-level hierarchy as shown at http://gentoo-portage.com/Browse
seems less convenient to me: why have, say, `app-emacs' and
`app-editors' instead of `applications/editors' and
`applications/editors/emacs'?

Most importantly, regardless of one's preference for one classification
or another, I think changing the classification would be a large change
for little in return.

Thanks,
Ludo'.