[Nix-dev] Re: Python packages in peril

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hello,

Marc Weber <marco-oweber at gmx.de> writes:

> Excerpts from ludo's message of Mon Apr 19 23:31:10 +0200 2010:
>> Hello,
>> 
>> Marc Weber <marco-oweber at gmx.de> writes:
>> 
>> > Author: MarcWeber
>> > Date: 2010-04-19 19:41:41 +0000 (Mon, 19 Apr 2010)
>> > New Revision: 21171
>> >
>> > You can view the changes in this commit at:
>> >    https://svn.nixos.org/viewvc/nix?rev=21171&view=rev
>> >
>> > Removed:
>> >    nixpkgs/trunk/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
>> 
>> You must be joking.  Can you please revert the patch?
>
> No I dislike joking.
> In fact I didn't even remove python-packages.nix.

It was renamed and from a quick glance stylistic details were changed in
a way that does not conform to the recommendations in the Nixpkgs manual
(e.g., top-level/python-packages.nix is documented in
language-support.xml, along with perl-packages.nix.)

> we have:
>
> python-2.5
> python-2.6
> python-3 is coming

That’s perfectly fine: top-level/python-packages.nix is parameterized by
Python specifically for that purpose.

[...]

> Ludovic asked me to revert my changes, then start the discussion.

Yes, please.

And for a sane discussion to occur, please make sure your message
clearly and concisely states what problem you are trying to fix.

> If I can't fix the remaining issues within 2 hours I'll revert
> everything.

No, that’s not the way it works.

As Lluís told you on IRC, every contributor should do their best to test
things before committing, because most of us rely on Nixpkgs for our
daily computer use.

For changes of this scope, it makes sense to have a branch while it is
under development, to avoid disruption.

In addition, large or potentially controversial changes ought to be
discussed beforehand.  It’s really tough to commit such a change and
then wait until people express their discontent to offer discussion.

You’ve been doing a lot of work on Nixpkgs/NixOS, which I find valuable.
However, it’s not the first time you commit without testing and/or
without discussing.  I think it’s harmful to us as a community in
addition to being detrimental to the quality of Nixpkgs.

Thanks,
Ludo’.