[Nix-dev] multiple-ouputs branch

[Pieter Noordhuis]

Hi all,

The nixpkgs repository has a branch called "multiple-outputs", with
the objective to split packages up into multiple ones. For example:
instead of having a single glib package, you would have one containing
run-time dependencies (shared libraries), and one you need to build
code that depends on it (header files, code generation, propagated
build inputs). This can be further extended into splitting out
documentation, or man pages specifically, and so forth.

The reason for doing this is quite clear: cut down on the byte size of
a package's closure. Right now, a package that uses glib pulls in a
dependency on Python, because that happens to be used by a dbus code
generation utility that sits in the glib tree. Or, by compiling C++
code and linking to libstdc++, you pull in a dependency on GCC as a
whole, instead of just GCC's shared libraries.

My question: is the work in the multiple-outputs branch ongoing and
will it be merged to master one day? If not, what would be needed to
reboot an effort to split up packages?

Cheers,
Pieter