Subject: bug#18033: closed (Re: bug#18033: Add support for 'search-path-specifications' referring to files)

From: [email-masked] (GNU bug Tracking System)
Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 22:58:02 +0000

Your bug report

#18033: Add support for 'search-path-specifications' referring to files

which was filed against the guix package, has been closed.

The explanation is attached below, along with your original report.
If you require more details, please reply to [email-masked].

-- 
18033: http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=18033
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Subject: Re: bug#18033: Add support for 'search-path-specifications' referring to files
From: [email-masked] (Ludovic Courtès)
To: [email-masked]
Cc: John Darrington <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 23:57:26 +0100
List-Id: <debbugs-submit.debbugs.gnu.org>

Commit af07095 extends ‘search-path-specification’ with a ‘file-type’
field, which can be 'regular.

Then, commit 7b21fe5 adds a ‘file-pattern’ field, to look for files
matching a pattern recursively.

Lastly, commit 2a8d440 uses these features for libxml2 and
$XML_CATALOG_FILES.

Comments welcome!

Ludo’.

Subject: Add support for 'search-path-specifications' referring to files
From: [email-masked] (Ludovic Courtès)
To: [email-masked]
Cc: John Darrington <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 16:02:20 +0200
List-Id: <debbugs-submit.debbugs.gnu.org>

See use case below.

John Darrington <[email-masked]> skribis:

> On Wed, Jul 16, 2014 at 11:23:12AM +0200, Ludovic Court??s wrote:
>      John Darrington <[email-masked]> skribis:
>      
>      > On Tue, Jul 15, 2014 at 10:59:17PM +0200, Ludovic Court??s wrote:
>      
>      [...]
>      
>      >      The problem is that ???search-path-specification??? is meant for $PATH-like
>      >      variables that list directories, not files.
>      >
>      > That occurred to me too.  But what problems does it actually cause?
>      
>      That we can???t use it for $XML_CATALOG_FILES.
>      
>      >      So I see two solutions:
>      >      
>      >        1. Patch libxml2 so that it honors a new variable, say
>      >           $XML_CATALOG_DIRECTORIES, which would allow us to use
>      >           ???search-path-specification???.
>      >      
>      >        2. Augment support for search paths to allow file-based search paths.
>      >      
>      >      (2) may be best in the long run, but it has ramifications in different
>      >      places.
>      >      
>      >
>      > (1) seems like a good idea only if upstream can be persuaded to adopt it.
>      
>      Which is unlikely, given that it???s redundant with $XML_CATALOG_FILES.
>      
>      > What are the ramifications of (2) ?
>      
>      There are changes in the build tools, for instance ???search-path-as-list???
>      (used by ???set-path-environment-variable???, used in gnu-build-system.scm)
>      expects directories, not files.  And all this calls things
>      ???directories???.
>      
>      This is a change we could schedule for the next core-updates.
>
> This sounds like it is the most sensible solution. 
>
> J'