[Nix-dev] Nix GUI

[Anders F Björklund]

Tony White:

>> To integrate "proper" with nix-env and the rest of it, would
>> probably take C++ and a libnix.so and a real Qt interface ?
>
> Hi all,
> Packagekit might be the way to go I believe :
> http://www.packagekit.org/pk-intro.html
> The ui can be left to the respective developers and user selection  
> that way.
> There are both gtk and qt4 front ends for packagekit.
> http://www.packagekit.org/gtk-doc/index.html

Actually it has gnome and kde4 frontends, but whatever.
(integrated upstream, as part of http://freedesktop.org)

> libpackagekit is obviously written in C but I would like to think that
> in their source repo, somewhere, there could be some method of using
> perl to interact with libpackagekit (Or python or maybe ruby.)
> Bindings of some sort or using dbus bindings, possibly.

The urpmi backend uses perl and ports backend uses ruby,
but only python has generic support in the PK library...

> If you look at the back end matrix :
> http://www.packagekit.org/pk-matrix.html
> Not a single package type can perform the roll back feature, something
> nix can do.

True. So Nix might be a useful addition to PK that way.
Hacking something out in Perl shouldn't take too long ?
It could serve as a prototype for writing a real backend,
as writing suck a "dispatched" backend goes much quicker.

> I personally am not totally sold on packagekit but only because it is
> not quite stable enough to be used in production. It was pushed onto
> Fedora users a while ago, when it clearly wasn't ready. It still
> isn't. That doesn't really apply to a distro like NixOS and it could
> potentially provide an easy graphical tool for users of the nix
> package manager on other distros.

It's also a way to browse packages and updates, even if not
using it for the actual installation ? And it allows source
based distributions for backends, like e.g. Gentoo's portage.
I wouldn't say it's a total interface replacement, though...

> It should become good after a bit more development or at least provide
> the basis for a workable fork in the future. With most of the other
> distros having a back end for it now and the amount of work it saves
> writing a package manager ui, why not give it a shot?
> If not, I will have a go eventually, when I get round to learning a  
> bit more C.
>
> Writing a whole set of tools for graphical package management seems
> like a lot of work, especially seeing how packagekit could take a
> large amount of the grunt work out of it.
> What do you think? Is packagekit workable?

Sure. I've written a backend for FreeBSD's "ports" (using ruby)
and Slackware's "slapt" (using C), so that is certainly doable.
I think it should use C++ and talk directly with Nix, for speed.
Might give it a shot later, when I get more familiar with NixOS.

--anders