[erlang-questions] Erlang package manager

[Darach Ennis]

What Zach said.

Elixir have done a wonderful job with Hex/Mix. They work, work well
and it would be nice to be able to use other beam based languages
where it makes sense with a single package management, build
and release (relx) toolchain.

The node folk have a good solution with npm. The only mistake there
was a notion of 'peer dependencies' which often breaks. Essentially,
an organic pattern of defining package plugins to other packages created
a 'peer dependency' crosscutting regular package dependencies. This
way madness and dependency cycles lies. The convenience was rather
inconvenient as cycles can be very hard to break, control unless every
version is pinned, and even then you're only a plugin away from a
nightmare...
We should avoid 'peer dependencies'.

"What I would love to see is a way that I can use a package
without caring (much) about which (beam based) language it was written in."

Zach nails it. I want that too!




On Wed, Dec 17, 2014 at 12:14 PM, Zachary Kessin <zkessin@REDACTED> wrote:
>
>  As the elixir guys already have hex i think a very useful thing would be
> for an erlang package tool to be able to use hex packages and vice versa.
>
> On the erlang VM we have Erlang, Elixir, LFE, ErlyDTL and a few other
> languages all of which can generate a .beam file. What I would love to see
> is a way that I can use a package
> without caring (much) about which language it was written in.
>
> --Zach
>
> On 12/16/2014 01:41 PM, Bruce Yinhe wrote:
>
>  Hi everyone,
>
>  Industrial Erlang User Group (IEUG) has been working together with the
> Erlang/OTP team to investigate and create a package management system for
> Erlang/OTP.
>
>  The lack of a package management system for Erlang has been discussed
> for a long time in the community. In essence, a straightforward package
> management system is believed to take Erlang programming language a step
> forward. Multiple tools will appear in the community. It needs to be
> supported by a highly visible community behind it.
>
>  In order to increase the adoption and to result in a tool widely used in
> the Erlang ecosystem, we are identifying the most important user categories
> and use cases, based on what the majority of the community want in a
> package manager. Therefore we would like to invite an open discussion.
>
>  Now you are welcome to share your thoughts, suggestions or proposals
> about an Erlang package manager. It would be great if you could reply with
> your motivation, explaining why a feature is necessary to have. There are
> some example questions to begin the dicussion with, including, but not
> limited to the following.
>
>    - What metadata information should an Erlang package include?
>    - What functionality do you need in a package manager for Erlang in
>    order to use it in production?
>     - What other concerns do you have about an Erlang package management
>    system?
>
>  Erlang package manager's brief wish list of features:
>
>    - Console interface
>     - Web interface
>     - Package Index and Repository
>    - Fetch, Install and Remove Packages
>     - Publish packages
>     - Versioning and Dependency Management
>
>  We are aware of several previous efforts and existing tools that attempt
> to achieve the similar goal. We want to look at existing things, both from
> Erlang and Elixir, to see if they fit the requirements. If not, we will
> then have to make something new, perhaps as a rewrite of an existing tool.
>
>  The IEUG members are putting together requirements for a package manager
> and will work with the community and Ericsson to create a standard and
> address any voids which exists in the existing tooling, funding necessary
> efforts required.
>
>  Best regards
>
>  Bruce Yinhe
>
>  Erlang Community Manager
> Industrial Erlang User Group
> community-manager@REDACTED
> +46 72 311 43 89
>
>
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>
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