Packaging existing software for Guix

[Cássio Tavares]

Hi there!

I've been struggling with Guix for about three months now, but I still
couldn't get it working as I need it. I will need help on many fronts. One
of the problems is that the Guix ecosystem is still somewhat limited. I
know that there is a way to install Nix packages, but since I became full
linux-libre adept, I'm trying to stay as "pure-Guix" as I can. My main
motivation is that this provision does not encourage people to port the
packages so that they are directly available in Guix's repository, quite
the contrary, it delays Guix packages availability.

So, I'm looking into package definition, and I have a few questions to
start:

   1. If I submit an issue with a package request, does it take long for
   the package to be made available?
   2. Can someone with only a very basic understanding of the Scheme (and
   the functional paradigm) package software successfully enough to submit it
   to the Guix project?
   3. Would that be very time-consuming (because my work is in a very
   different area)? Is the learning curve steep?
   4. As far as I could understand, when defining a package from a git
   repository, I have to specify the package version and commit. Does this
   mean that I will forever have to check for new versions and edit the
   package definition to update it?
   5. Is there a relatively simple way to port packages from other distros
   into Guix? Could this be an automated process?
   6. Any further advice?

Thanks,
Cássio
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