Subject: Re: [bug#67723] [PATCH 0/2] Fix the texlive-poetry package

From: Nicolas Goaziou <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2023 11:46:45 +0100

Hello,

[email-masked] writes:

> However, from an end-user perspective, those packages are currently
> broken. I think it is completely valid for the Guix project to not
> want to take on the burden of managing those dependencies, however
> I fail to see the utility in offering individual packages in that
> case.

The point is that you can use any package set as long as you manage to
resolve the dependencies yourself. This is not very difficult actually,
and only need to be done once if you always use the same TeX Live packages.

> On the other issue you had mentioned the idea of having package collections.
> How do you envision that working in practice? For example, if I wanted to
> create a collection for typesetting poetry it seems a little arbitrary which
> packages I would choose to include.

I'm talking about TeX Live predefined collections of packages, such as
`texlive-collection-pictures' or `texlive-scheme-small', not about user
defined collections. For example, `texlive-xkeyval' belongs to
`texlive-collection-latexrecommended', which you ought to install.

> I am a frequent user of the Tex ecosystem and would like to improve it in
> Guix. Currently it seems that the only realistic way to use Tex is to install
> the entirety of texlive, which isn't any different than what I would do on
> any
> other distro.

FWIW, I'm using modular TeX regularly. The actual problem — yes, there
is one — is not about resolving dependencies, really.

Regards,
-- 
Nicolas Goaziou