Subject: Re: bug#56799: (gnu services configuration) usage of *unspecified* is problematic

From: Attila Lendvai <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 2022 18:27:13 +0000

hi,

sorry for the headaches!

the original discussion is here (well, i think. site is down right now):

https://issues.guix.gnu.org/54674

'UNSPECIFIED would satisfy SYMBOL?, i.e. a source of headaches/confusion. it used to be 'DISABLED, which was even worse as it can be confused/conflated with a user specified value.

i suggested the use of srfi-189, but it was rejected as unwelcome complexity.

https://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-189/srfi-189.html

i think it makes sense to change Guile to make *unspecified* self-evaluating, but looking back, maybe the use of srfi-189 would have been better.

i need to run now, and i'll be offline for a week or two. i can't look the example in depth now, but my gut instinct says that it's a bug if *unspecified* reaches any GExp machinery.

more later,

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• attila lendvai
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