bug#15284: closed (wish: make the (name) field optional)

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Your message dated Thu, 16 Apr 2020 23:53:33 +0200
with message-id <address@hidden>
and subject line wish: make the (name) field optional
has caused the debbugs.gnu.org bug report #15284,
regarding wish: make the (name) field optional
to be marked as done.

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15284: http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=15284
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> --- Begin Message ---
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> Subject: 
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> wish: make the (name) field optional
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> Date: 
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> Fri, 06 Sep 2013 11:05:26 +0200
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> User-agent: 
>
> Wanderlust/2.15.9 (Almost Unreal) SEMI/1.14.6 (Maruoka) FLIM/1.14.9 (Gojō) APEL/10.8 Emacs/24.3 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) MULE/6.0 (HANACHIRUSATO)
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>
>
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> Hi Guix Hackers,
>
> Currently when defining a package, I have to write the name at least
> twice:
>
> (define-public NAME
>   (name "NAME"))
>
> This gives the flexibility to use different names for the visual
> output and the technical name. But for most packages it likely just
> adds useless duplication.
>
> So I think the (name) field should be optional, and if it is not
> present, the packages technical name should be used automatically.
>
> Best wishes,
> Arne
>
>
>
> --- End Message ---
> --- Begin Message ---
>
>
>
> Subject: 
>
> wish: make the (name) field optional
>
>
>
>
> Date: 
>
> Thu, 16 Apr 2020 23:53:33 +0200
>
>
>
>
> User-agent: 
>
> mu4e 1.2.0; emacs 26.3
>
>
>
>
> I agree with Ludo and Andreas that we better shouldn’t make the
> name field optional.
>
> That said, I just pushed a series of patches that happens to address
> this wishlist item in a very roundabout way.  It is now possible to
> build packages from JSON files like this:
>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> [
>   {
>     "name": "myhello",
>     "version": "2.10",
>     "source": "mirror://gnu/hello/hello-2.10.tar.gz",
>     "build-system": "gnu",
>     "arguments": {
>       "tests?": false
>     }
>     "home-page": "https://www.gnu.org/software/hello/";,
>     "synopsis": "Hello, GNU world: An example GNU package",
>     "description": "GNU Hello prints a greeting.",
>     "license": "GPL-3.0+",
>     "native-inputs": ["gettext"]
>   },
>   {
>     "name": "greeter",
>     "version": "1.0",
>     "source": "https://example.com/greeter-1.0.tar.gz";,
>     "build-system": "gnu",
>     "arguments": {
>       "test-target": "foo",
>       "parallel-build?": false,
>     },
>     "home-page": "https://example.com/";,
>     "synopsis": "Greeter using GNU Hello",
>     "description": "This is a wrapper around GNU Hello.",
>     "license": "GPL-3.0+",
>     "inputs": ["myhello", "hello"]
>   }
> ]
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
>
> As you can see, there is no variable assignment, because this is JSON.
> The “name” field is the only identifier, and its value can be used as an
> input in other packages (see the reference to “myhello” in the “greeter”
> package definition).
>
> It’s really only tangentially related to what this issue is about, but
> it’s as close as we can get to duplication-free syntax — even though
> it’s JSON and not Scheme.  Look, there are also no labels for inputs!
> Because there are no custom phases either…
>
> --
> Ricardo
>
>
> --- End Message ---