Subject: [bug#40025] [PATCH] Add gitless package definition.

From: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 2020 20:05:27 +0100

John,

Thanks for the patch!

Guix uses a specific commit message format.  It's partially 
documented in ‘(guix)Submitting Patches’ but you're IMO better off 
just reading the git history to get a feel for it.  Here's the 
commit message for this package:

    gnu: Add gitless.

    * gnu/packages/version-control.scm (gitless): New public 
    variable.

    Co-authored-by: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <[email-masked]>

I've written down my comments below, but you don't need to send a 
V2.

I'll try to make it work here and will push a modified version if 
I succeed.  It would be nice if I could get rid of propagation, 
and the path to a (non-native) git still needs to be embedded so 
the user doesn't need to install git themselves.

> +       (uri (git-reference
> +             (url "https://github.com/gitless-vcs/gitless")
> +             (commit (string-append "v" version))))

This is missing the FILE-NAME field.  Without it, the source is 
checked out into /gnu/store/<hash>-checkout/ which makes it harder 
to see what's what.

Adding (file-name (git-file-name name version)) puts it in 
/gnu/store/<hash>-gitless-<version>-checkout.

> +	     (substitute* "requirements.txt"
> +	       (("pygit2==") "pygit2>="))

This has no effect on the end result so I suggest we drop it 
again.

> + (synopsis
> +  "A version control system built on top of Git")

Synopses shouldn't start with an article.

Tip: running ‘./pre-inst-env guix lint gitless’ will catch things 
like this.  It also caught the missing FILE-NAME.

It also printed several warnings about using tabs instead of 
spaces.  Guix does not use tabs in Scheme code.

> +    (description
> +     "A version control system built on top of Git")

This is waaay too short, I told you that before :-p  Moreover, 
descriptions should consist of complete sentences.  I've knocked 
something together based on the home page blurb:

  Gitless is a Git-compatible version control system that aims to 
  be
  easy to learn and use.  It simplifies the common workflow by
  committing changes to tracked files by default and saving any
  uncommitted changes as part of a branch.

  The friendly @command{gl} command-line interface gives feedback 
  and
  helps you figure out what to do next.

  Gitless is implemented on top of Git and its commits and 
  repositories
  are indistinguishable from Git's.  You (or other contributors) 
  can
  always fall back on @command{git}, and use any regular Git 
  hosting
  service.

Kind regards,

T G-R