Subject: bug#26264: [PATCH 0/1] Use '@' to separate name, version in package-full-name

From: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 7 May 2017 23:13:29 +0200

Ludo',

On 07/05/17 17:37, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
> WDYT of making it:
>   (define* (package-full-name package #:optional (separator "@"))
>     …)
> ?
> (I think I suggested it somewhere, but maybe not.  :-))

You did! I simply forgot to address it explicitly (‘I'm sticking...’).

> That would make the adjustments to places that need a hyphen slightly
> shorter.

I considered it back when, but decided not to because it just felt...
wrong. That's it. My intuitive, rambling reasoning:

- All of the patched ex-callers are manually constructing some raw
  file or directory name. It includes the package's name and version
  in some way, but not really Guix's abstract concept of a
  ‘package-full-name’ atom. It just happened to be the same string.

- Making ‘separator’ configurable turns ‘package-full-name’ into
  ‘package-name-version-join’. If one cares about the separator,
  one also cares about the components, at which point one should just
  call string-join explicitly. Doing so isn't ugly, and is more clear.

Does that make any sense?

In the end, I care more about users' ability to finally copy & paste
without confusing warnings than my perso'pinions on function naming.
This bug has been open for long enough.

> Thanks, and good luck with your new $DAYJOB!

Thanks! It doesn't involve computers, so it won't last.

Kind regards,

T G-R