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authorLudovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>2016-07-28 15:41:00 +0200
committerLudovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>2016-07-28 15:41:00 +0200
commitd222522edf70cdac6cee7b4ab8fa1bfbf0a7ba9c (patch)
tree97e468e2d6f50a1bf858d32a28c8d18105ef1743 /doc/contributing.texi
parent3a78fab83dd5faa80d8eecd792f40dde6e334c7c (diff)
downloadguix-d222522edf70cdac6cee7b4ab8fa1bfbf0a7ba9c.tar
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doc: Discourage software bundling.
Fixes <http://bugs.gnu.org/24008>. Suggested by ng0 <ng0@we.make.ritual.n0.is>. * doc/contributing.texi (Submitting Patches): Add item about bundling.
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diff --git a/doc/contributing.texi b/doc/contributing.texi
index a3684a5e1d..18d891db4e 100644
--- a/doc/contributing.texi
+++ b/doc/contributing.texi
@@ -289,6 +289,20 @@ Make sure the package builds on your platform, using @code{guix build
@var{package}}.
@item
+@cindex bundling
+Make sure the package does not use bundled copies of software already
+available as separate packages.
+
+Sometimes, packages include copies of the source code of their
+dependencies as a convenience for users. However, as a distribution, we
+want to make sure that such packages end up using the copy we already
+have in the distribution, if there is one. This improves resource usage
+(the dependency is built and stored only once), and allows the
+distribution to make transverse changes such as applying security
+updates for a given software package in a single place and have them
+affect the whole system---something that bundled copies prevent.
+
+@item
Take a look at the profile reported by @command{guix size}
(@pxref{Invoking guix size}). This will allow you to notice references
to other packages unwillingly retained. It may also help determine