Mark H Weaver <m...@netris.org> writes: > Nala Ginrut <nalagin...@gmail.com> writes: >> Here is a CSV reader based on Andy's csv-reader. >> And it's ready for guildhall. > [...] >> PS: I'll call ijp to add it into the repo. > > I haven't yet looked carefully at this code or its API, so this is no > judgement on you, but in general, I don't think we should follow the > model of "Hey, here's the first release of a library I just hacked up. > Please add it to Guildhall now." That's how we ended up with an ice-9 > directory that's full of bitrotted implementations of half-baked APIs.
So, you're concerned about Guile obtaining a bad rep from what is in the Guildhall? A fair point, since I'm stewarding my own repo, I should really get that blame, but it is likely that it would fall on Guile. Over time, when we get the "official one" set up, we could certainly set up a vetting process or something for there, but as Ludovic says, there is no reason there can't be multiple ones. One scummier than the other :P To take elisp as an example, there are three common repositories: ELPA[0], Marmalade[1] and Melpa[2]. ELPA is the official gnu one, it requires copyright assignment (as far as I know), and is in some sense the strictest. Marmalade is the community one, where people generally would submit packages. Melpa builds packages from repos, and has predictable consequences :) A similar setup could work for Guile. Whether or now we require copyright assignment, you could have a "ELPA" corresponding to invited packages, and a "ijp's $0.99 bit store". Actually, I've been thinking about this issue in a slightly different context, and have previously suggested on irc the idea of a "guile-batteries" meta-package,[3] (along the lines of the Haskell Platform[4]), where we would have a large collection of "generally useful" software packages crypto/networking/whatever that would have a "one command install". This would require it's own vetting to make sure it was including libraries not liable to break. In theory, it could then just match up as a convenience for the vetted repo. Now, having said all that, I think these concerns are a little premature. The Guildhall situation is little different from what we have now, where a well-meaning Guiler posts an announcement to here, or guile-user. We don't vet them, and we've certainly had bad APIs posted here before <names withheld for obvious reasons>. I'm an optimist though: if we can find them, we can fix them, and it seems to work okay in other languages. 0. http://elpa.gnu.org/ 1. http://marmalade-repo.org/ 2. http://melpa.milkbox.net/ 3. What guile-lib could have been (could still be), but guile-lib also gives me that ice-9 vibe. 4. http://www.haskell.org/platform/ -- Ian Price -- shift-reset.com "Programming is like pinball. The reward for doing it well is the opportunity to do it again" - from "The Wizardy Compiled"