9 Frequently Asked Questions
9.1 Why JSON?
I wanted to mimic how JSON is used for Node and Python packaging.
I knew, however, that this idea will not be very welcome in the so-called "Scheme community", so Req also supports other formats.
9.2 What about setup, test, etc.?
The scope of Req would be too wide if it supported mimicking all of the options of raco.
Compilation and setup can be substituted with using the --reinstall flag.
Automating other actions like for example: building documentation, binaries, archives or testing can be done with any of:
9.3 What about requiring a specific version?
Racket does not have extended facilities of recording dependency versions and/or hashes similar to Node, Julia or Python’s Pipenv.
This can be worked around by:
checking the package version or features and acting accordingly.
Req’s req/version module defines the installed version, so to check Req’s version the following code can be used:
(require req/version) (unless (>= MAJOR 3) (error 'req-version "Req major version too low, wanted at least 3, given ~v" MAJOR))
9.4 Where are strings in the RKTD examples?
The format of the file and the internal representation might differ, best to look at the examples given in the Req formats documentation.
The RKTD format for Req was thought to be as close to OCaml’s Dune, that’s why everything is written as though it was a symbol, string quotations are just not needed.