Re: Add a way to disable serialization support to (guix services configuration)

[Xinglu Chen]

Hi Maxim,

On Fri, May 07 2021, Maxim Cournoyer wrote:

> Hello Xinglu!
>
> Thank you for working on it!

You are very welcome!  These are things that have annoyed me enough so I
decided (try) to fix it myself :)

>> +(define (configuration-no-default-value kind field)
>> +  (configuration-error
>> +   (format #f "`~a' in `~a' does not have a default value" kind field)))
>
> The kind and field should be inverted.

Good catch

>>    configuration-field make-configuration-field configuration-field?
>> @@ -112,7 +116,7 @@
>>  (define-syntax define-configuration
>>    (lambda (stx)
>>      (syntax-case stx ()
>> -      ((_ stem (field (field-type def) doc) ...)
>> +      ((_ stem (field (field-type properties ...) doc) ...)
>
> I'd rather keep the 'def' binding for the default value; properties is
> too vague and implies many of them, which is not a supported syntax.

Yeah, not exactly sure why I changed it to ‘properties’, anyway...

>>         (with-syntax (((field-getter ...)
>>                        (map (lambda (field)
>>                               (id #'stem #'stem #'- field))
>> @@ -121,36 +125,56 @@
>>                        (map (lambda (type)
>>                               (id #'stem type #'?))
>>                             #'(field-type ...)))
>> +                     ((field-default ...)
>> +                      (map (match-lambda
>> +                             ((field-type default _ ...) default)
>> +                             ;; We get warnings about `disabled' being an
>> +                             ;; unbound variable unless we quote it.
>> +                             (_ (syntax 'disabled)))
>
> Here I think it'd be better to have the pattern more strict (e.g,
> (field-type default-value) or (field-type); so as to not accept invalid
> syntax.

Good point!

> I also think it'd be clearer to use another symbol than 'disabled, as
> this already has a meaning for the validator and could confuse readers.

Yeah, it’s not very descriptive.

>> +                           #'((field-type properties ...) ...)))
>>                       ((field-serializer ...)
>>                        (map (lambda (type)
>>                               (id #'stem #'serialize- type))
>>                             #'(field-type ...))))
>> -           #`(begin
>> -               (define-record-type* #,(id #'stem #'< #'stem #'>)
>> -                 #,(id #'stem #'% #'stem)
>> -                 #,(id #'stem #'make- #'stem)
>> -                 #,(id #'stem #'stem #'?)
>> -                 (%location #,(id #'stem #'-location)
>> -                            (default (and=> (current-source-location)
>> -                                            source-properties->location))
>> -                            (innate))
>> -                 (field field-getter (default def))
>> -                 ...)
>> -               (define #,(id #'stem #'stem #'-fields)
>> -                 (list (configuration-field
>> -                        (name 'field)
>> -                        (type 'field-type)
>> -                        (getter field-getter)
>> -                        (predicate field-predicate)
>> -                        (serializer field-serializer)
>> -                        (default-value-thunk (lambda () def))
>> -                        (documentation doc))
>> -                       ...))
>> -               (define-syntax-rule (stem arg (... ...))
>> -                 (let ((conf (#,(id #'stem #'% #'stem) arg (... ...))))
>> -                   (validate-configuration conf
>> -                                           #,(id #'stem #'stem #'-fields))
>> -                   conf))))))))
>> +         #`(begin
>> +             (define-record-type* #,(id #'stem #'< #'stem #'>)
>> +               #,(id #'stem #'% #'stem)
>> +               #,(id #'stem #'make- #'stem)
>> +               #,(id #'stem #'stem #'?)
>> +               (%location #,(id #'stem #'-location)
>> +                          (default (and=> (current-source-location)
>> +                                          source-properties->location))
>> +                          (innate))
>> +               #,@(map (lambda (name getter def)
>> +                         (if (equal? (syntax->datum def) (quote 'disabled))
>
> nitpick: eq? suffices to check for symbols.
>
>> +                             #`(#,name #,getter)
>> +                             #`(#,name #,getter (default #,def))))
>> +                       #'(field ...)
>> +                       #'(field-getter ...)
>> +                       #'(field-default ...)))
>> +             (define #,(id #'stem #'stem #'-fields)
>> +               (list (configuration-field
>> +                      (name 'field)
>> +                      (type 'field-type)
>> +                      (getter field-getter)
>> +                      (predicate field-predicate)
>> +                      (serializer field-serializer)
>> +                      ;; TODO: What if there is no default value?
>
> Seems this TODO was taken care of already :-).
>
>> +                      (default-value-thunk
>> +                        (lambda ()
>> +                          (display '#,(id #'stem #'% #'stem))
>> +                          (if (equal? (syntax->datum field-default)
>> +                                      (quote 'disabled))
>
> Like above (eq? would do).  More importantly (and confusingly), here the
> 'disabled expected value must *not* be quoted.  I haven't investigated
> why but it seems one level of quote got striped at that point.

Hmm, I am still a little confused about how quotation works with
syntax-case & friends.

>> +                              (configuration-no-default-value
>> +                               '#,(id #'stem #'% #'stem) 'field)
>> +                              field-default)))
>> +                      (documentation doc))
>> +                     ...))
>> +             (define-syntax-rule (stem arg (... ...))
>> +               (let ((conf (#,(id #'stem #'% #'stem) arg (... ...))))
>> +                 (validate-configuration conf
>> +                                         #,(id #'stem #'stem #'-fields))
>> +                 conf))))))))
>
> The following patch implements the above comments;
>
> [...]
>
> I'll attempt to review patch 2/2 shortly!
>
> Thanks a lot for this neat improvement!

Thank you for the review and the improvements!