Re: Guildhall

[Andy Wingo]

Hi Simon,

On Tue 15 Nov 2011 23:52, Simon Haines <address@hidden> writes:

> I'd like to start looking into getting some of my libraries ready for
> the guildhall, and have a few quick questions.
>
> How are library namespaces going to be determined? I can see a couple of
> approaches:
>
> a) authoritative (contributors apply to a central authority for a
> namespace upon library contribution), or
> b) federated (contributors have a namespace, perhaps based on a login
> name, under which all their libraries live)
> I guess it's a matter of taste: (import (guildhall db nosql mongodb
> (1))) vs (import (guildhall simonhaines mongodb (1))). Perhaps this is
> mere bikeshedding and the best approach is 'anything goes'.

MHO:

 * The names integrate with the global module namespace -- no (guildhall
   ) prefix, as you might want to provide a package both in the
   guildhall and via some other means (tarball, distro package, etc)

 * In hierarchies, prefer flat over deep: (statprof) over (system
   performance profiling statistical)

 * For names, consider the needs of the system

   - If you really have the right answer to a problem, use the Right
     Name -- e.g. (postgres)

   - Try to avoid conflicts with modules that already exist

   - For experimental modules for which you expect lots of API churn or
     changes in solution/problem fit, use a more unique name, for
     example (chbouib postgres)

> What's the contribution process going to look like? I assume a
> contribute' form on a web page somewhere, similar to PLaneT or
> CPAN. Some infrastructure may be required to support this: repository
> hosting
> and an announce mailing list. On the latter points, the last I heard
> guildhall.gnu.org was being sought for hosting, and I guess guile-user
> would be a good announce list.

We did get guildhall.gnu.org, but haven't done anything with it yet.
You can host elsewhere with no agreement.  MHO is that we should not
require copyright assignment for guildhall.gnu.org packages.  Instead
the requirement should just be that it have a free software license
compatible with Guile, and GPLv3+ preferred.

> I think the guildhall would be a fantastic development for guile, and
> I'd like to do all I can to get the ball rolling, from paper-chasing to
> helping out with the dorodango integration. Just let me know how
> I can help.

Sorry it's taken a couple months to get back to you!  As you can see I'm
a little swamped.  But for the record, the process I have been using has
been:

  * Examine the state of things
  * Remind myself where we want to go
  * Figure out the next step
  * Do the next step

I don't need to be a blocker on any of this, though.  The first three
steps can be done on mailing lists.  The last sometimes involves mail,
sometimes code, and in the future will involve some sysadmin things --
for code, I am very, very happy to accept merge requests on the
guildhall project on gitorious, or patches on this mailing list.
Collaboration on sysadmin things is also possible: send me the code and
I'll put it up on guildhall.gnu.org.

Happy hacking :-)

Andy
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