[Nix-dev] distutils2nix/python4nix

[Marc Weber]

> My understanding is, that all (needed) combinations would be created as nix
You get to the point: Do you want to read expressions someone else needs
and are shipped with nixpkgs? What if 1000 users start using nixpkgs?
Good luck reviewing 500 .nix file collections doing almost the same.

What if you want to install something in nixos?
Do you always want to generate .nix files before starting?
I don't. From nixpgks-ruby-overlay/hack-nix I know that 70% of the packages just work
without tweaking.

Eg the last tweak I did was adding:
    psych = { buildInputs = [ pkgs.libyaml ]; };
to tell a ruby library about nixpkgs's C implementation of yaml.
Then psych installed fine. I only update the global pool occasionally.
Never the individual package.

To keep the long story short: I don't believe in generating .nix
expressions scaling very well for the future. But I don't know :)

> expressions. If you did not install the combination sometime beforehand,
> then nix is I think the wrong tool by design. The question is more what
> tools we have to generate expressions for us.

So how to use ruby,python,.. or many java maven driven packages on
nixpkgs then? Is the answer: Don't? Or "symlink libraries to /usr/lib
so that standard tools like ruby and python packages find them easier?
I'd like to get rid of this kind of mess. But I don't have the perfect
solution yet.

> If my perception of nix is wrong, please correct me.
You're welcome at "great Nix" facing reald world dynamic managed package
databases of dynamic languages :)

So yes, its a feeling only that the current way won't scale for the future. Its
not knowing. I may be wrong. I'm waiting for others proofing me wrong doing all
the work :) Meanwhile I try to find solutions which work for me minimizing the
time I have to spend to get packages working ..

Marc Weber