[bug#59712] doc: Suggest guile-readline and guile-colorized.

From: Bruno Victal <mirai@makinata.eu>

Allows for a smoother experience with './pre-inst-env guix repl'.

* doc/contributing.texi (Building from Git): Suggest guile-readline and guile-colorized.
---
 doc/contributing.texi | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)


base-commit: aaf1f18b8044142515ff868bcbd2b72b81ced3ec

Hi,

On Wed, 30 Nov 2022 at 02:23, mirai@makinata.eu wrote:

> +guix shell -D guix help2man git strace guile-readline guile-colorized --pure

The package guile-readline requires to be activated, no?
For guile-colorized, never used. :-)

On one hand, I agree that smoothing the experience with “guix repl” is
worth.  On the other hand, I think it better to reduce the barrier by
suggesting out-of-the-box packages in the Contributing section.

Well, instead, I am proposing to put this recommendation in this other
section (guix) The Perfect Setup.  For example, better worded :-)

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
The Perfect Setup to hack on Guix is basically the perfect setup used
for Guile hacking (*note (guile)Using Guile in Emacs::).  First, the
experience is smooth when the packages guile-readline and
guile-colorized are installed and configured.  We recommend this
~/.guile,

    (use-modules
     (ice-9 readline)
     (ice-9 format)
     (ice-9 pretty-print))
    (activate-readline)

Then, you need more than an editor, you need Emacs
(https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs), empowered by the wonderful Geiser
(https://nongnu.org/geiser/).  To set that up, run:
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---


WDYT?

Cheers,
simon

On 2022-11-30 08:37, zimoun wrote:
> The package guile-readline requires to be activated, no?

Right.

> For guile-colorized, never used. 😄

For guile-colorized, it's automatic.

> Well, instead, I am proposing to put this recommendation in this other
> section (guix) The Perfect Setup.  For example, better worded 😄

I'd say that both your snippet and the package recommendations should
be added else one would end up wondering why their './pre-inst-env guix repl'
doesn't pick up the guile extensions when doing so from the guix shell.


Thoughts?

Cheers,
Bruno

I've noticed that 9.14 "Using Guix Interactively"[1] already makes this recommendation.

[1]: https://guix.gnu.org/en/manual/devel/en/html_node/Using-Guix-Interactively.html#Using-Guix-Interactively

On 2022-11-30 08:37, zimoun wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On Wed, 30 Nov 2022 at 02:23, mirai@makinata.eu wrote:
> 
>> +guix shell -D guix help2man git strace guile-readline guile-colorized --pure
> 
> The package guile-readline requires to be activated, no?
> For guile-colorized, never used. :-)
> 
> On one hand, I agree that smoothing the experience with “guix repl” is
> worth.  On the other hand, I think it better to reduce the barrier by
> suggesting out-of-the-box packages in the Contributing section.
> 
> Well, instead, I am proposing to put this recommendation in this other
> section (guix) The Perfect Setup.  For example, better worded :-)
> 
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> The Perfect Setup to hack on Guix is basically the perfect setup used
> for Guile hacking (*note (guile)Using Guile in Emacs::).  First, the
> experience is smooth when the packages guile-readline and
> guile-colorized are installed and configured.  We recommend this
> ~/.guile,
> 
>     (use-modules
>      (ice-9 readline)
>      (ice-9 format)
>      (ice-9 pretty-print))
>     (activate-readline)
> 
> Then, you need more than an editor, you need Emacs
> (https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs), empowered by the wonderful Geiser
> (https://nongnu.org/geiser/).  To set that up, run:
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
> 
> 
> WDYT?
> 
> Cheers,
> simon

Hi!

mirai@makinata.eu skribis:

> From: Bruno Victal <mirai@makinata.eu>
>
> Allows for a smoother experience with './pre-inst-env guix repl'.
>
> * doc/contributing.texi (Building from Git): Suggest guile-readline and guile-colorized.

Is this the right place?  Currently both are recommended under “Using
Guix Interactively”, which I think is more appropriate.  But maybe we
should add a cross-reference?

To complement what zimoun wrote, the ‘.guile’ skeleton (that new home
directories get by default) enables both when they’re installed.

All in all, I’m not sure anything’s missing.  WDYT?

Ludo’.

Hi,

On Fri, 02 Dec 2022 at 18:59, mirai <mirai@makinata.eu> wrote:
> I've noticed that 9.14 "Using Guix Interactively"[1] already makes this recommendation.

Therefore, maybe just a cross-reference will be enough but I do not know
where it seems a good place.  WDYT?

Cheers,
simon

On 2022-12-14 11:39, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> mirai@makinata.eu skribis:
> 
>> From: Bruno Victal <mirai@makinata.eu>
>>
>> Allows for a smoother experience with './pre-inst-env guix repl'.
>>
>> * doc/contributing.texi (Building from Git): Suggest guile-readline and guile-colorized.
> 
> Is this the right place?  Currently both are recommended under “Using
> Guix Interactively”, which I think is more appropriate.  But maybe we
> should add a cross-reference?
> 
> To complement what zimoun wrote, the ‘.guile’ skeleton (that new home
> directories get by default) enables both when they’re installed.
> 
> All in all, I’m not sure anything’s missing.
--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
# have both guile-colorized or guile-readline already installed either via config.scm or guix install

$ guix shell -D guix help2man git strace --pure
~/src/guix [env]$

# perform ./bootstrap, configure and make

~/src/guix [env]$ ./pre-inst-env guix repl
scheme@(guix-user)> ;; does not have guile-colorized or guile-readline

--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---


The inconvenient part here being having to do:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
CTRL-D
$ guix shell -D guix help2man git strace guile-colorized guile-readline --pure
~/src/guix [env]$

# continue with whatever task was being done before

--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Hi,

On Wed, 28 Dec 2022 at 17:28, mirai <mirai@makinata.eu> wrote:
> On 2022-12-14 11:39, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
>> Hi!
>> 
>> mirai@makinata.eu skribis:
>> 
>>> From: Bruno Victal <mirai@makinata.eu>
>>>
>>> Allows for a smoother experience with './pre-inst-env guix repl'.
>>>
>>> * doc/contributing.texi (Building from Git): Suggest guile-readline and guile-colorized.
>> 
>> Is this the right place?  Currently both are recommended under “Using
>> Guix Interactively”, which I think is more appropriate.  But maybe we
>> should add a cross-reference?
>> 
>> To complement what zimoun wrote, the ‘.guile’ skeleton (that new home
>> directories get by default) enables both when they’re installed.
>> 
>> All in all, I’m not sure anything’s missing.
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> # have both guile-colorized or guile-readline already installed either via config.scm or guix install
>
> $ guix shell -D guix help2man git strace --pure
> ~/src/guix [env]$
>
> # perform ./bootstrap, configure and make
>
> ~/src/guix [env]$ ./pre-inst-env guix repl
> scheme@(guix-user)> ;; does not have guile-colorized or guile-readline
>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
>
>
> The inconvenient part here being having to do:
>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> CTRL-D
> $ guix shell -D guix help2man git strace guile-colorized guile-readline --pure
> ~/src/guix [env]$
>
> # continue with whatever task was being done before
>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

I agree with Ludo.  These guile-colorized and guile-readline
recommendations do not appear to me the right place.  As pointed in [1],
maybe I would add a cross-reference.

1: <https://yhetil.org/guix/86cz8mhzyh.fsf@gmail.com>


The command line for Building from Git is,

    guix shell -D guix --pure

Then, the manual reads: «On Guix, extra dependencies can be added by
instead running guix shell: 

    guix shell -D guix help2man git strace --pure

» so I would avoid to overload some extra recommendations here.
Especially when such recommendations require extra configuration.
Maybe a cross-link?

The aim of this section is to explain how to build from Git and it
appears to me better to keep it straight to the point and thus to avoid
too many unrelated details (how to configure “./pre-inst-env guix repl”
for instance).  The recommendations of guile-colorized and
guile-readline are about using Guix interactively; therefore it appears
to me better to recommend and explain in the dedicated section.


https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/guix.html#Building-from-Git
https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/guix.html#Using-Guix-Interactively


Cheers,
simon