Subject: bug#52316: Package example from cookbook has bugs

From: Maxime Devos <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 06 Dec 2021 15:10:59 +0000

Hi,

zimoun schreef op ma 06-12-2021 om 15:30 [+0100]:
> [....]
> > #:tests? is unconditionally set to #true. This is bad for cross-
> > compilation and --without-tests=PACKAGE reasons, and would be
> > flagged
> > by the linter.
> 
> For cross-compilation, yes.  For ’--without-tests’, it is not an
> issue,
> IMHO, or why is it?

I was mistaken, unconditional #true is unproblematic for --without-
tests, because --without-tests replaces the #true by #false IIUC.

> > In the new 'check' phase, libgit2_clar is invoked unconditionally.
> > This
> > would be flagged by the linter.
> 
> Since it is an example showing non-trivial things, maybe it can be
> pedagogical to have something half good, if and only if, “guix lint”
> reports the half bad.  And add an explanation.  WDYT?

I don't know what would be best from a pedagogical perspective: showing
the right code directly (showing more non-trivial things and not
showing any bugs, but possibly showing too much at once), or writing 
the half-right code (with a short comment telling there's a bug that
will be explained later).

The second thing doesn't seem bad to me, but IANAP (I am not a
pedagogue).

Greetings,
Maxime