Subject: [bug#34615] [PATCH] gnu: Add libtommath.

From: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2019 19:57:25 +0100

Efraim,

Thanks!

Efraim Flashner wrote:
> * gnu/packages/algebra.scm (libtommath): New variable.

> + (add-after 'unpack 'prepare-build
> +   (lambda _
> +     ;; Don't pull in coreutils.
> +     (substitute* "makefile_include.mk"
> +       (("arch") "uname -m"))

I'd add an empty line here or separate this into two fases just to 
be very clear, since…

> +     (delete-file "makefile")
> +     (symlink "makefile.shared" "makefile")
> +     #t))

…I got a bit lost between all these makefiles.  Could you explain 
exactly what's going on?

Is this to avoid repeating ‘-f makefile.shared’ elsewhere?

> + (add-after 'check 'make-static

More accurate: 'install-static-library.

While libtommath.a is ‘only’ 332K, that's almost half of the 
entire output size.  Is it worth moving to a separate :static 
output?

> + (synopsis "portable number theoretic multiple-precision 
> integer library")

s/p/P/

multiprecision.scm is a better fit and already has sister package 
tomsfastmath to keep this one company.

> +integer library written entirely in C.  The library is designed 
> to provide a

s/The library is/It's/ IMO.

> +simple to work with API

‘simple-to-work-with API’, unfortunately.

Kind regards,

T G-R