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-rw-r--r--distro/packages/base.scm705
-rw-r--r--distro/packages/bash.scm88
-rw-r--r--distro/packages/bdw-gc.scm59
-rw-r--r--distro/packages/gawk.scm59
-rw-r--r--distro/packages/guile.scm113
-rw-r--r--distro/packages/libffi.scm72
-rw-r--r--distro/packages/libsigsegv.scm47
-rw-r--r--distro/packages/libtool.scm56
-rw-r--r--distro/packages/libunistring.scm57
-rw-r--r--distro/packages/m4.scm74
-rw-r--r--distro/packages/multiprecision.scm116
-rw-r--r--distro/packages/ncurses.scm106
-rw-r--r--distro/packages/perl.scm74
-rw-r--r--distro/packages/pkg-config.scm50
-rw-r--r--distro/packages/readline.scm62
15 files changed, 1035 insertions, 703 deletions
diff --git a/distro/packages/base.scm b/distro/packages/base.scm
index 6baafd904f..d5a304098b 100644
--- a/distro/packages/base.scm
+++ b/distro/packages/base.scm
@@ -19,7 +19,12 @@
 
 (define-module (distro packages base)
   #:use-module (distro)
+  #:use-module (distro packages bash)
   #:use-module (distro packages bootstrap)
+  #:use-module (distro packages gawk)
+  #:use-module (distro packages guile)
+  #:use-module (distro packages multiprecision)
+  #:use-module (distro packages perl)
   #:use-module (guix packages)
   #:use-module (guix ftp)
   #:use-module (guix http)
@@ -36,65 +41,6 @@
 ;;;
 ;;; Code:
 
-(define-public libsigsegv
-  (package
-   (name "libsigsegv")
-   (version "2.10")
-   (source (origin
-            (method http-fetch)
-            (uri (string-append
-                  "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/libsigsegv/libsigsegv-"
-                  version ".tar.gz"))
-            (sha256
-             (base32 "16hrs8k3nmc7a8jam5j1fpspd6sdpkamskvsdpcw6m29vnis8q44"))))
-   (build-system gnu-build-system)
-   (outputs '("out" "lib"))                   ; separate libdir from the rest
-   (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/libsigsegv/")
-   (synopsis "GNU libsigsegv, a library to handle page faults in user mode")
-   (description
-"GNU libsigsegv is a library for handling page faults in user mode. A page
-fault occurs when a program tries to access to a region of memory that is
-currently not available. Catching and handling a page fault is a useful
-technique for implementing pageable virtual memory, memory-mapped access to
-persistent databases, generational garbage collectors, stack overflow
-handlers, distributed shared memory, and more.")
-   (license "GPLv2+")))
-
-(define-public gawk
-  (package
-   (name "gawk")
-   (version "4.0.0")
-   (source (origin
-            (method http-fetch)
-            (uri (string-append "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gawk/gawk-" version
-                                ".tar.bz2"))
-            (sha256
-             (base32 "0sss7rhpvizi2a88h6giv0i7w5h07s2fxkw3s6n1hqvcnhrfgbb0"))))
-   (build-system gnu-build-system)
-   (arguments (case-lambda
-                ((system)
-                 (if (string=? system "i686-cygwin")
-                     '(#:tests? #f)      ; work around test failure on Cygwin
-                     '(#:parallel-tests? #f))) ; test suite fails in parallel
-                ((system cross-system)
-                 '(#:parallel-tests? #f))))
-   (inputs `(("libsigsegv" ,libsigsegv)             ; headers
-             ("libsigsegv/lib" ,libsigsegv "lib"))) ; library
-   (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/gawk/")
-   (synopsis "GNU implementation of the Awk programming language")
-   (description
-    "Many computer users need to manipulate text files: extract and then
-operate on data from parts of certain lines while discarding the rest, make
-changes in various text files wherever certain patterns appear, and so on.
-To write a program to do these things in a language such as C or Pascal is a
-time-consuming inconvenience that may take many lines of code.  The job is
-easy with awk, especially the GNU implementation: Gawk.
-
-The awk utility interprets a special-purpose programming language that makes
-it possible to handle many data-reformatting jobs with just a few lines of
-code.")
-   (license "GPLv3+")))
-
 (define-public hello
   (package
    (name "hello")
@@ -188,56 +134,6 @@ files (as archives).")
    (license "GPLv3+")
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/")))
 
-(define-public perl
-  ;; Yeah, Perl...  It is required early in the bootstrap process by Linux.
-  (package
-    (name "perl")
-    (version "5.16.1")
-    (source (origin
-             (method http-fetch)
-             (uri (string-append "http://www.cpan.org/src/5.0/perl-"
-                                 version ".tar.gz"))
-             (sha256
-              (base32
-               "15qxzba3a50c9nik5ydgyfp62x7h9vxxn12yd1jgl93hb1wj96km"))))
-    (build-system gnu-build-system)
-    (arguments
-     (lambda (system)
-       `(#:tests? #f
-         #:patches (list (assoc-ref %build-inputs "patch/no-sys-dirs"))
-         #:phases
-         (alist-replace
-          'configure
-          (lambda* (#:key inputs outputs #:allow-other-keys)
-            (let ((out  (assoc-ref outputs "out"))
-                  (libc (assoc-ref inputs "libc"))
-                  (pwd  (search-path (search-path-as-string->list
-                                      (getenv "PATH"))
-                                     "pwd")))
-              ;; Use the right path for `pwd'.
-              (substitute* "dist/Cwd/Cwd.pm"
-                (("/bin/pwd") pwd))
-
-              (zero?
-               (system* "/bin/sh" "./Configure"
-                        (string-append "-Dprefix=" out)
-                        (string-append "-Dman1dir=" out "/share/man/man1")
-                        (string-append "-Dman3dir=" out "/share/man/man3")
-                        "-de" "-Dcc=gcc"
-                        "-Uinstallusrbinperl"
-                        "-Dinstallstyle=lib/perl5"
-                        "-Duseshrplib"
-                        (string-append "-Dlocincpth=" libc "/include")
-                        (string-append "-Dloclibpth=" libc "/lib")))))
-          %standard-phases))))
-    (inputs `(("patch/no-sys-dirs" ,(search-patch "perl-no-sys-dirs.patch"))))
-    (synopsis "Implementation of the Perl programming language")
-    (description
-     "Perl 5 is a highly capable, feature-rich programming language with over
-24 years of development.")
-    (home-page "http://www.perl.org/")
-    (license "GPLv1+")))                          ; or "Artistic"
-
 (define-public gzip
   (package
    (name "gzip")
@@ -488,56 +384,6 @@ are expected to exist on every operating system.")
    (license "GPLv3+")
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/")))
 
-(define-public m4
-  (package
-   (name "m4")
-   (version "1.4.16")
-   (source (origin
-            (method http-fetch)
-            (uri (string-append "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/m4/m4-"
-                                version ".tar.bz2"))
-            (sha256
-             (base32
-              "035r7ma272j2cwni2961jp22k6bn3n9xwn3b3qbcn2yrvlghql22"))))
-   (build-system gnu-build-system)
-   (arguments (case-lambda
-                ((system)
-                 ;; XXX: Disable tests on those platforms with know issues.
-                 `(#:tests? ,(not (member system
-                                          '("x86_64-darwin"
-                                            "i686-cygwin"
-                                            "i686-sunos")))
-                   #:patches (list (assoc-ref %build-inputs "patch/s_isdir")
-                                   (assoc-ref %build-inputs
-                                              "patch/readlink-EINVAL")
-                                   (assoc-ref %build-inputs "patch/gets"))))
-                ((system cross-system)
-                 `(#:patches (list (assoc-ref %build-inputs "patch/s_isdir")
-                                   (assoc-ref %build-inputs
-                                              "patch/readlink-EINVAL")
-                                   (assoc-ref %build-inputs "patch/gets"))))))
-   (inputs `(("patch/s_isdir" ,(search-patch "m4-s_isdir.patch"))
-             ("patch/readlink-EINVAL"
-              ,(search-patch "m4-readlink-EINVAL.patch"))
-             ("patch/gets" ,(search-patch "m4-gets-undeclared.patch"))))
-   (synopsis "GNU M4, a macro processor")
-   (description
-    "GNU M4 is an implementation of the traditional Unix macro processor.  It
-is mostly SVR4 compatible although it has some extensions (for example,
-handling more than 9 positional parameters to macros).  GNU M4 also has
-built-in functions for including files, running shell commands, doing
-arithmetic, etc.
-
-GNU M4 is a macro processor in the sense that it copies its input to the
-output expanding macros as it goes.  Macros are either builtin or
-user-defined and can take any number of arguments.  Besides just doing macro
-expansion, m4 has builtin functions for including named files, running UNIX
-commands, doing integer arithmetic, manipulating text in various ways,
-recursion etc...  m4 can be used either as a front-end to a compiler or as a
-macro processor in its own right.")
-   (license "GPLv3+")
-   (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/m4/")))
-
 (define-public gnu-make
   (package
    (name "make")
@@ -567,97 +413,6 @@ that it is possible to use Make to build and install the program.")
    (license "GPLv3+")
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/make/")))
 
-(define-public gmp
-  (package
-   (name "gmp")
-   (version "5.0.5")
-   (source (origin
-            (method http-fetch)
-            (uri (string-append "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gmp/gmp-" version
-                                ".tar.bz2"))
-            (sha256
-             (base32
-              "1jfymbr90mpn0zw5sg001llqnvf2462y77vgjknrmfs1rjn8ln0z"))))
-   (build-system gnu-build-system)
-   (native-inputs `(("m4" ,m4)))
-   (arguments `(#:configure-flags
-                '(;; Build a "fat binary", with routines for several
-                  ;; sub-architectures.
-                  "--enable-fat"
-                  "--enable-cxx")))
-   (synopsis "GMP, the GNU multiple precision arithmetic library")
-   (description
-    "GMP is a free library for arbitrary precision arithmetic, operating on
-signed integers, rational numbers, and floating point numbers.  There is no
-practical limit to the precision except the ones implied by the available
-memory in the machine GMP runs on.  GMP has a rich set of functions, and the
-functions have a regular interface.
-
-The main target applications for GMP are cryptography applications and
-research, Internet security applications, algebra systems, computational
-algebra research, etc.
-
-GMP is carefully designed to be as fast as possible, both for small operands
-and for huge operands.  The speed is achieved by using fullwords as the basic
-arithmetic type, by using fast algorithms, with highly optimised assembly
-code for the most common inner loops for a lot of CPUs, and by a general
-emphasis on speed.
-
-GMP is faster than any other bignum library.  The advantage for GMP increases
-with the operand sizes for many operations, since GMP uses asymptotically
-faster algorithms.")
-   (license "LGPLv3+")
-   (home-page "http://gmplib.org/")))
-
-(define-public mpfr
-  (package
-   (name "mpfr")
-   (version "3.1.1")
-   (source (origin
-            (method http-fetch)
-            (uri (string-append "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/mpfr/mpfr-" version
-                                ".tar.xz"))
-            (sha256 (base32
-                     "0ym1ylcq803n52qrggxqmkz66gbn8ncc3ybawal31v5y5p1srma9"))))
-   (build-system gnu-build-system)
-   (inputs `(("gmp" ,gmp)))
-   (synopsis "GNU MPFR, a library for multiple-precision floating-point
-arithmetic")
-   (description
-    "The GNU MPFR library is a C library for multiple-precision
-floating-point computations with correct rounding.  MPFR is based on the GMP
-multiple-precision library.
-
-The main goal of MPFR is to provide a library for multiple-precision
-floating-point computation which is both efficient and has a well-defined
-semantics.  It copies the good ideas from the ANSI/IEEE-754 standard for
-double-precision floating-point arithmetic (53-bit mantissa).")
-   (license "LGPLv3+")
-   (home-page "http://www.mpfr.org/")))
-
-(define-public mpc
-  (package
-   (name "mpc")
-   (version "1.0")
-   (source (origin
-            (method http-fetch)
-            (uri (string-append
-                  "http://www.multiprecision.org/mpc/download/mpc-"
-                  version ".tar.gz"))
-            (sha256 (base32
-                     "00rxjmkpqnv6zzcyw9aa5w6rzaav32ys87km25zgfcv9i32km5cw"))))
-   (build-system gnu-build-system)
-   (inputs `(("gmp" ,gmp)
-             ("mpfr" ,mpfr)))
-   (synopsis "GNU MPC, a library for multiprecision complex arithmetic
-with exact rounding")
-   (description
-    "GNU MPC is a C library for the arithmetic of complex numbers with
-arbitrarily high precision and correct rounding of the result.  It is built
-upon and follows the same principles as GNU MPFR.")
-   (license "LGPLv3+")
-   (home-page "http://mpc.multiprecision.org/")))
-
 (define-public binutils
   (package
    (name "binutils")
@@ -798,456 +553,6 @@ used in the GNU system including the GNU/Linux variant.")
      (license "GPLv3+")
      (home-page "http://gcc.gnu.org/"))))
 
-(define-public ncurses
-  (let ((post-install-phase
-         '(lambda* (#:key outputs #:allow-other-keys)
-            (let ((out (assoc-ref outputs "out")))
-              ;; When building a wide-character (Unicode) build, create backward
-              ;; compatibility links from the the "normal" libraries to the
-              ;; wide-character libraries (e.g. libncurses.so to libncursesw.so).
-              (with-directory-excursion (string-append out "/lib")
-                (for-each (lambda (lib)
-                            (define libw.a
-                              (string-append "lib" lib "w.a"))
-                            (define lib.a
-                              (string-append "lib" lib ".a"))
-                            (define libw.so.x
-                              (string-append "lib" lib "w.so.5"))
-                            (define lib.so.x
-                              (string-append "lib" lib ".so.5"))
-                            (define lib.so
-                              (string-append "lib" lib ".so"))
-
-                            (when (file-exists? libw.a)
-                              (format #t "creating symlinks for `lib~a'~%" lib)
-                              (symlink libw.a lib.a)
-                              (symlink libw.so.x lib.so.x)
-                              (false-if-exception (delete-file lib.so))
-                              (call-with-output-file lib.so
-                                (lambda (p)
-                                  (format p "INPUT (-l~aw)~%" lib)))))
-                          '("curses" "ncurses" "form" "panel" "menu")))))))
-    (package
-     (name "ncurses")
-     (version "5.9")
-     (source (origin
-              (method http-fetch)
-              (uri (string-append "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ncurses-"
-                                  version ".tar.gz"))
-              (sha256
-               (base32
-                "0fsn7xis81za62afan0vvm38bvgzg5wfmv1m86flqcj0nj7jjilh"))))
-     (build-system gnu-build-system)
-     (arguments
-      (case-lambda
-        ((system)
-         `(#:configure-flags
-           `("--with-shared" "--without-debug" "--enable-widec"
-
-             ;; By default headers land in an `ncursesw' subdir, which is not
-             ;; what users expect.
-             ,(string-append "--includedir=" (assoc-ref %outputs "out")
-                             "/include")
-
-             ;; C++ bindings fail to build on
-             ;; `i386-pc-solaris2.11' with GCC 3.4.3:
-             ;; <http://bugs.opensolaris.org/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6395191>.
-             ,,@(if (string=? system "i686-solaris")
-                    '("--without-cxx-binding")
-                    '()))
-           #:tests? #f                            ; no "check" target
-           #:phases (alist-cons-after 'install 'post-install
-                                      ,post-install-phase
-                                      %standard-phases)
-
-           ;; The `ncursesw5-config' has a #!/bin/sh that we don't want to
-           ;; patch, to avoid retaining a reference to the build-time Bash.
-           #:patch-shebangs? #f))
-        ((system cross-system)
-         (arguments cross-system))))
-     (self-native-input? #t)
-     (synopsis
-      "GNU Ncurses, a free software emulation of curses in SVR4 and more")
-     (description
-      "The Ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of curses
-in System V Release 4.0, and more.  It uses Terminfo format, supports pads
-and color and multiple highlights and forms characters and function-key
-mapping, and has all the other SYSV-curses enhancements over BSD Curses.
-
-The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux.  It has been in use for some
-time with OpenBSD as the system curses library, and on FreeBSD and NetBSD as
-an external package.  It should port easily to any ANSI/POSIX-conforming
-UNIX.  It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp!")
-     (license "X11")
-     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/ncurses/"))))
-
-(define-public readline
-  (package
-   (name "readline")
-   (version "6.2")
-   (source (origin
-            (method http-fetch)
-            (uri (string-append "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/readline/readline-"
-                                version ".tar.gz"))
-            (sha256
-             (base32
-              "10ckm2bd2rkxhvdmj7nmbsylmihw0abwcsnxf8y27305183rd9kr"))))
-   (build-system gnu-build-system)
-   (propagated-inputs `(("ncurses" ,ncurses)))
-   (inputs `(("patch/link-ncurses"
-              ,(search-patch "readline-link-ncurses.patch"))))
-   (arguments `(#:patches (list (assoc-ref %build-inputs
-                                           "patch/link-ncurses"))
-                #:patch-flags '("-p0")
-                #:configure-flags
-                (list (string-append "LDFLAGS=-Wl,-rpath -Wl,"
-                                     (assoc-ref %build-inputs "ncurses")
-                                     "/lib"))))
-   (synopsis "GNU Readline, a library for interactive line editing")
-   (description
-    "The GNU Readline library provides a set of functions for use by
-applications that allow users to edit command lines as they are typed in.
-Both Emacs and vi editing modes are available.  The Readline library includes
-additional functions to maintain a list of previously-entered command lines,
-to recall and perhaps reedit those lines, and perform csh-like history
-expansion on previous commands.
-
-The history facilites are also placed into a separate library, the History
-library, as part of the build process.  The History library may be used
-without Readline in applications which desire its capabilities.")
-   (license "GPLv3+")
-   (home-page "http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/readline/")))
-
-(define-public bash
-  (let ((cppflags (string-join '("-DSYS_BASHRC='\"/etc/bashrc\"'"
-                                 "-DSYS_BASH_LOGOUT='\"/etc/bash_logout\"'"
-                                 "-DDEFAULT_PATH_VALUE='\"/no-such-path\"'"
-                                 "-DSTANDARD_UTILS_PATH='\"/no-such-path\"'"
-                                 "-DNON_INTERACTIVE_LOGIN_SHELLS"
-                                 "-DSSH_SOURCE_BASHRC")
-                               " ")))
-    (package
-     (name "bash")
-     (version "4.2")
-     (source (origin
-              (method http-fetch)
-              (uri (string-append
-                    "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/bash/bash-" version ".tar.gz"))
-              (sha256
-               (base32
-                "1n5kbblp5ykbz5q8aq88lsif2z0gnvddg9babk33024wxiwi2ym2"))))
-     (build-system gnu-build-system)
-     (inputs `(("readline" ,readline)
-               ("ncurses" ,ncurses)))             ; TODO: add texinfo
-     (arguments
-      `(#:configure-flags `("--with-installed-readline"
-                            ,,(string-append "CPPFLAGS=" cppflags)
-                            ,(string-append
-                              "LDFLAGS=-Wl,-rpath -Wl,"
-                              (assoc-ref %build-inputs "readline")
-                              "/lib"
-                              " -Wl,-rpath -Wl,"
-                              (assoc-ref %build-inputs "ncurses")
-                              "/lib"))
-
-        ;; Bash is reportedly not parallel-safe.  See, for instance,
-        ;; <http://patches.openembedded.org/patch/32745/> and
-        ;; <http://git.buildroot.net/buildroot/commit/?h=79e2d802ae7e376a413c02097790493e1f65c3a4>.
-        #:parallel-build? #f
-        #:parallel-tests? #f
-
-        ;; XXX: The tests have a lot of hard-coded paths, so disable them
-        ;; for now.
-        #:tests? #f
-
-        #:phases
-        (alist-cons-after 'install 'post-install
-                          (lambda* (#:key outputs #:allow-other-keys)
-                            ;; Add a `bash' -> `sh' link.
-                            (let ((out (assoc-ref outputs "out")))
-                              (with-directory-excursion
-                                  (string-append out "/bin")
-                                (symlink "bash" "sh"))))
-                          %standard-phases)))
-     (synopsis "GNU Bourne-Again Shell")
-     (description
-      "Bash is the shell, or command language interpreter, that will appear in
-the GNU operating system.  Bash is an sh-compatible shell that incorporates
-useful features from the Korn shell (ksh) and C shell (csh).  It is intended
-to conform to the IEEE POSIX P1003.2/ISO 9945.2 Shell and Tools standard.  It
-offers functional improvements over sh for both programming and interactive
-use.  In addition, most sh scripts can be run by Bash without
-modification.")
-     (license "GPLv3+")
-     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/"))))
-
-(define-public libtool
-  (package
-   (name "libtool")
-   (version "2.4.2")
-   (source (origin
-            (method http-fetch)
-            (uri (string-append "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/libtool/libtool-"
-                                version ".tar.gz"))
-            (sha256
-             (base32
-              "0649qfpzkswgcj9vqkkr9rn4nlcx80faxpyqscy2k1x9c94f93dk"))))
-   (build-system gnu-build-system)
-   (native-inputs `(("m4" ,m4)
-                    ("perl" ,perl)))
-   (arguments
-    ;; TODO: Use `TESTSUITEFLAGS=-jN' for tests.
-    `(#:patches (list (assoc-ref %build-inputs "patch/skip-tests"))))
-   (inputs `(("patch/skip-tests"
-              ,(search-patch "libtool-skip-tests.patch"))))
-   (synopsis "GNU Libtool, a generic library support script")
-   (description
-    "GNU libtool is a generic library support script.  Libtool hides the
-complexity of using shared libraries behind a consistent, portable interface.
-
-To use libtool, add the new generic library building commands to your
-Makefile, Makefile.in, or Makefile.am.  See the documentation for
-details.")
-   (license "GPLv3+")
-   (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/")))
-
-(define-public libunistring
-  (package
-   (name "libunistring")
-   (version "0.9.3")
-   (source (origin
-            (method http-fetch)
-            (uri (string-append
-                  "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/libunistring/libunistring-"
-                  version ".tar.gz"))
-            (sha256
-             (base32
-              "18q620269xzpw39dwvr9zpilnl2dkw5z5kz3mxaadnpv4k3kw3b1"))))
-   (propagated-inputs '())                  ; FIXME: add libiconv when !glibc
-   (build-system gnu-build-system)
-   (synopsis "GNU Libunistring, a Unicode string library")
-   (description
-    "This library provides functions for manipulating Unicode strings and for
-manipulating C strings according to the Unicode standard.
-
-GNU libunistring is for you if your application involves non-trivial text
-processing, such as upper/lower case conversions, line breaking, operations
-on words, or more advanced analysis of text.  Text provided by the user can,
-in general, contain characters of all kinds of scripts.  The text processing
-functions provided by this library handle all scripts and all languages.
-
-libunistring is for you if your application already uses the ISO C / POSIX
-<ctype.h>, <wctype.h> functions and the text it operates on is provided by
-the user and can be in any language.
-
-libunistring is also for you if your application uses Unicode strings as
-internal in-memory representation.")
-   (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/libunistring/")
-   (license "LGPLv3+")))
-
-(define-public guile-1.8
-  (package
-   (name "guile")
-   (version "1.8.8")
-   (source (origin
-            (method http-fetch)
-            (uri (string-append "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/guile/guile-" version
-                                ".tar.gz"))
-            (sha256
-             (base32
-              "0l200a0v7h8bh0cwz6v7hc13ds39cgqsmfrks55b1rbj5vniyiy3"))))
-   (build-system gnu-build-system)
-   (arguments '(#:configure-flags '("--disable-error-on-warning")
-                #:patches (list (assoc-ref %build-inputs "patch/snarf"))
-
-                ;; Insert a phase before `configure' to patch things up.
-                #:phases (alist-cons-before
-                           'configure
-                           'patch-loader-search-path
-                           (lambda* (#:key outputs #:allow-other-keys)
-                             ;; Add a call to `lt_dladdsearchdir' so that
-                             ;; `libguile-readline.so' & co. are in the
-                             ;; loader's search path.
-                             (substitute* "libguile/dynl.c"
-                                          (("lt_dlinit.*$" match)
-                                           (format #f
-                                                   "  ~a~%  lt_dladdsearchdir(\"~a/lib\");~%"
-                                                   match
-                                                   (assoc-ref outputs "out")))))
-                           %standard-phases)))
-   (inputs `(("patch/snarf" ,(search-patch "guile-1.8-cpp-4.5.patch"))
-             ("gawk" ,gawk)
-             ("readline" ,readline)))
-
-   ;; Since `guile-1.8.pc' has "Libs: ... -lgmp -lltdl", these must be
-   ;; propagated.
-   (propagated-inputs `(("gmp" ,gmp)
-                        ("libtool" ,libtool)))
-
-   ;; When cross-compiling, a native version of Guile itself is needed.
-   (self-native-input? #t)
-
-   (synopsis "GNU Guile 1.8, an embeddable Scheme interpreter")
-   (description
-"GNU Guile 1.8 is an interpreter for the Scheme programming language,
-packaged as a library that can be embedded into programs to make them
-extensible.  It supports many SRFIs.")
-   (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/")
-   (license "LGPLv2+")))
-
-(define-public libffi
-  (let ((post-install-phase
-         ;; Install headers in the right place.
-         '(lambda* (#:key outputs #:allow-other-keys)
-            (define out (assoc-ref outputs "out"))
-            (mkdir (string-append out "/include"))
-            (with-directory-excursion
-                (string-append out "/lib/libffi-3.0.9/include")
-              (for-each (lambda (h)
-                          (format #t "moving `~a' to includedir~%" h)
-                          (rename-file h (string-append out "/include/" h)))
-                        (scandir "."
-                                 (lambda (x)
-                                   (not (member x '("." ".."))))))))))
-   (package
-    (name "libffi")
-    (version "3.0.9")
-    (source (origin
-             (method ftp-fetch)
-             (uri
-              (string-append "ftp://sourceware.org/pub/libffi/"
-                             name "-" version ".tar.gz"))
-             (sha256
-              (base32
-               "0ln4jbpb6clcsdpb9niqk0frgx4k0xki96wiv067ig0q4cajb7aq"))))
-    (build-system gnu-build-system)
-    (arguments `(#:modules ((guix build utils) (guix build gnu-build-system)
-                            (ice-9 ftw) (srfi srfi-26))
-                 #:phases (alist-cons-after 'install 'post-install
-                                            ,post-install-phase
-                                            %standard-phases)))
-    (synopsis "libffi, a foreign function call interface library")
-    (description
-     "The libffi library provides a portable, high level programming interface
-to various calling conventions.  This allows a programmer to call any
-function specified by a call interface description at run-time.
-
-FFI stands for Foreign Function Interface.  A foreign function interface is
-the popular name for the interface that allows code written in one language
-to call code written in another language.  The libffi library really only
-provides the lowest, machine dependent layer of a fully featured foreign
-function interface.  A layer must exist above libffi that handles type
-conversions for values passed between the two languages.")
-    (home-page "http://sources.redhat.com/libffi/")
-
-    ;; See <http://github.com/atgreen/libffi/blob/master/LICENSE>.
-    (license "free, non-copyleft"))))
-
-(define-public pkg-config
-  (package
-   (name "pkg-config")
-   (version "0.27.1")
-   (source (origin
-            (method http-fetch)
-            (uri (string-append
-                  "http://pkgconfig.freedesktop.org/releases/pkg-config-"
-                  version ".tar.gz"))
-            (sha256
-             (base32
-              "05wc5nwkqz7saj2v33ydmz1y6jdg659dll4jjh91n41m63gx0qsg"))))
-   (build-system gnu-build-system)
-   (arguments `(#:configure-flags '("--with-internal-glib")))
-   (home-page "http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/pkg-config")
-   (license "GPLv2+")
-   (synopsis "a helper tool used when compiling applications and
-libraries")
-   (description
-    "pkg-config is a helper tool used when compiling applications and
-libraries.  It helps you insert the correct compiler options on the
-command line so an application can use gcc -o test test.c `pkg-config
---libs --cflags glib-2.0` for instance, rather than hard-coding values
-on where to find glib (or other libraries). It is language-agnostic, so
-it can be used for defining the location of documentation tools, for
-instance.")))
-
-(define-public libgc
-  (package
-   (name "libgc")
-   (version "7.2alpha6")
-   (source (origin
-            (method http-fetch)
-            (uri (string-append
-                  "http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/gc_source/gc-"
-                  version ".tar.gz"))
-            (sha256
-             (base32
-              "05jwadjbrv8pr7z9cb4miskicxqpxm0pca4h2rg5cgbpajr2bx7b"))))
-   (build-system gnu-build-system)
-   (synopsis "The Boehm-Demers-Weiser conservative garbage collector
-for C and C++")
-   (description
-    "The Boehm-Demers-Weiser conservative garbage collector can be used
-as a garbage collecting replacement for C malloc or C++ new.  It allows
-you to allocate memory basically as you normally would, without
-explicitly deallocating memory that is no longer useful.  The collector
-automatically recycles memory when it determines that it can no longer
-be otherwise accessed.
-
-The collector is also used by a number of programming language
-implementations that either use C as intermediate code, want to
-facilitate easier interoperation with C libraries, or just prefer the
-simple collector interface.
-
-Alternatively, the garbage collector may be used as a leak detector for
-C or C++ programs, though that is not its primary goal.")
-   (home-page "http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/")
-
-   ;; permissive X11-style license:
-   ;; http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/license.txt
-   (license "X11")))
-
-(define-public guile-2.0
-  (package
-   (name "guile")
-   (version "2.0.6")
-   (source (origin
-            (method http-fetch)
-            (uri (string-append "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/guile/guile-" version
-                                ".tar.xz"))
-            (sha256
-             (base32
-              "000ng5qsq3cl1k35jvzvhwxj92wx4q87745n2fppkd4irh58vv5l"))))
-   (build-system gnu-build-system)
-   (native-inputs `(("pkgconfig" ,pkg-config)))
-   (inputs `(("libffi" ,libffi)
-             ("readline" ,readline)))
-
-   (propagated-inputs
-    `( ;; These ones aren't normally needed here, but since `libguile-2.0.la'
-       ;; reads `-lltdl -lunistring', adding them here will add the needed
-       ;; `-L' flags.  As for why the `.la' file lacks the `-L' flags, see
-       ;; <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lib.gnulib.bugs/18903>.
-      ("libunistring" ,libunistring)
-      ("libtool" ,libtool)
-
-      ;; The headers and/or `guile-2.0.pc' refer to these packages, so they
-      ;; must be propagated.
-      ("bdw-gc" ,libgc)
-      ("gmp" ,gmp)))
-
-   (self-native-input? #t)
-
-   (synopsis "GNU Guile 2.0, an embeddable Scheme implementation")
-   (description
-"GNU Guile is an implementation of the Scheme programming language, with
-support for many SRFIs, packaged for use in a wide variety of environments.
-In addition to implementing the R5RS Scheme standard and a large subset of
-R6RS, Guile includes a module system, full access to POSIX system calls,
-networking support, multiple threads, dynamic linking, a foreign function
-call interface, and powerful string processing.")
-   (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/")
-   (license "LGPLv3+")))
-
 (define-public linux-libre-headers
   (let* ((version* "3.3.8")
          (build-phase
diff --git a/distro/packages/bash.scm b/distro/packages/bash.scm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b4e5c1158a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distro/packages/bash.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+;;; Guix --- Nix package management from Guile.         -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+;;; Copyright (C) 2012 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+;;;
+;;; This file is part of Guix.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+;;; under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+;;; the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
+;;; your option) any later version.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+;;; WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+;;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+;;; GNU General Public License for more details.
+;;;
+;;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+;;; along with Guix.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+(define-module (distro packages bash)
+  #:use-module (distro packages ncurses)
+  #:use-module (distro packages readline)
+  #:use-module (guix packages)
+  #:use-module (guix http)
+  #:use-module (guix utils)
+  #:use-module (guix build-system gnu))
+
+(define-public bash
+  (let ((cppflags (string-join '("-DSYS_BASHRC='\"/etc/bashrc\"'"
+                                 "-DSYS_BASH_LOGOUT='\"/etc/bash_logout\"'"
+                                 "-DDEFAULT_PATH_VALUE='\"/no-such-path\"'"
+                                 "-DSTANDARD_UTILS_PATH='\"/no-such-path\"'"
+                                 "-DNON_INTERACTIVE_LOGIN_SHELLS"
+                                 "-DSSH_SOURCE_BASHRC")
+                               " ")))
+    (package
+     (name "bash")
+     (version "4.2")
+     (source (origin
+              (method http-fetch)
+              (uri (string-append
+                    "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/bash/bash-" version ".tar.gz"))
+              (sha256
+               (base32
+                "1n5kbblp5ykbz5q8aq88lsif2z0gnvddg9babk33024wxiwi2ym2"))))
+     (build-system gnu-build-system)
+     (inputs `(("readline" ,readline)
+               ("ncurses" ,ncurses)))             ; TODO: add texinfo
+     (arguments
+      `(#:configure-flags `("--with-installed-readline"
+                            ,,(string-append "CPPFLAGS=" cppflags)
+                            ,(string-append
+                              "LDFLAGS=-Wl,-rpath -Wl,"
+                              (assoc-ref %build-inputs "readline")
+                              "/lib"
+                              " -Wl,-rpath -Wl,"
+                              (assoc-ref %build-inputs "ncurses")
+                              "/lib"))
+
+        ;; Bash is reportedly not parallel-safe.  See, for instance,
+        ;; <http://patches.openembedded.org/patch/32745/> and
+        ;; <http://git.buildroot.net/buildroot/commit/?h=79e2d802ae7e376a413c02097790493e1f65c3a4>.
+        #:parallel-build? #f
+        #:parallel-tests? #f
+
+        ;; XXX: The tests have a lot of hard-coded paths, so disable them
+        ;; for now.
+        #:tests? #f
+
+        #:phases
+        (alist-cons-after 'install 'post-install
+                          (lambda* (#:key outputs #:allow-other-keys)
+                            ;; Add a `bash' -> `sh' link.
+                            (let ((out (assoc-ref outputs "out")))
+                              (with-directory-excursion
+                                  (string-append out "/bin")
+                                (symlink "bash" "sh"))))
+                          %standard-phases)))
+     (synopsis "GNU Bourne-Again Shell")
+     (description
+      "Bash is the shell, or command language interpreter, that will appear in
+the GNU operating system.  Bash is an sh-compatible shell that incorporates
+useful features from the Korn shell (ksh) and C shell (csh).  It is intended
+to conform to the IEEE POSIX P1003.2/ISO 9945.2 Shell and Tools standard.  It
+offers functional improvements over sh for both programming and interactive
+use.  In addition, most sh scripts can be run by Bash without
+modification.")
+     (license "GPLv3+")
+     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/"))))
diff --git a/distro/packages/bdw-gc.scm b/distro/packages/bdw-gc.scm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9cf6c4cb2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distro/packages/bdw-gc.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+;;; Guix --- Nix package management from Guile.         -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+;;; Copyright (C) 2012 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+;;;
+;;; This file is part of Guix.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+;;; under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+;;; the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
+;;; your option) any later version.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+;;; WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+;;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+;;; GNU General Public License for more details.
+;;;
+;;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+;;; along with Guix.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+(define-module (distro packages bdw-gc)
+  #:use-module (guix packages)
+  #:use-module (guix http)
+  #:use-module (guix utils)
+  #:use-module (guix build-system gnu))
+
+(define-public libgc
+  (package
+   (name "libgc")
+   (version "7.2alpha6")
+   (source (origin
+            (method http-fetch)
+            (uri (string-append
+                  "http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/gc_source/gc-"
+                  version ".tar.gz"))
+            (sha256
+             (base32
+              "05jwadjbrv8pr7z9cb4miskicxqpxm0pca4h2rg5cgbpajr2bx7b"))))
+   (build-system gnu-build-system)
+   (synopsis "The Boehm-Demers-Weiser conservative garbage collector
+for C and C++")
+   (description
+    "The Boehm-Demers-Weiser conservative garbage collector can be used
+as a garbage collecting replacement for C malloc or C++ new.  It allows
+you to allocate memory basically as you normally would, without
+explicitly deallocating memory that is no longer useful.  The collector
+automatically recycles memory when it determines that it can no longer
+be otherwise accessed.
+
+The collector is also used by a number of programming language
+implementations that either use C as intermediate code, want to
+facilitate easier interoperation with C libraries, or just prefer the
+simple collector interface.
+
+Alternatively, the garbage collector may be used as a leak detector for
+C or C++ programs, though that is not its primary goal.")
+   (home-page "http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/")
+
+   ;; permissive X11-style license:
+   ;; http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/license.txt
+   (license "X11")))
diff --git a/distro/packages/gawk.scm b/distro/packages/gawk.scm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b04a1ebb57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distro/packages/gawk.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+;;; Guix --- Nix package management from Guile.         -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+;;; Copyright (C) 2012 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+;;;
+;;; This file is part of Guix.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+;;; under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+;;; the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
+;;; your option) any later version.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+;;; WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+;;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+;;; GNU General Public License for more details.
+;;;
+;;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+;;; along with Guix.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+(define-module (distro packages gawk)
+  #:use-module (distro packages libsigsegv)
+  #:use-module (guix packages)
+  #:use-module (guix http)
+  #:use-module (guix utils)
+  #:use-module (guix build-system gnu))
+
+(define-public gawk
+  (package
+   (name "gawk")
+   (version "4.0.0")
+   (source (origin
+            (method http-fetch)
+            (uri (string-append "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gawk/gawk-" version
+                                ".tar.bz2"))
+            (sha256
+             (base32 "0sss7rhpvizi2a88h6giv0i7w5h07s2fxkw3s6n1hqvcnhrfgbb0"))))
+   (build-system gnu-build-system)
+   (arguments (case-lambda
+                ((system)
+                 (if (string=? system "i686-cygwin")
+                     '(#:tests? #f)      ; work around test failure on Cygwin
+                     '(#:parallel-tests? #f))) ; test suite fails in parallel
+                ((system cross-system)
+                 '(#:parallel-tests? #f))))
+   (inputs `(("libsigsegv" ,libsigsegv)             ; headers
+             ("libsigsegv/lib" ,libsigsegv "lib"))) ; library
+   (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/gawk/")
+   (synopsis "GNU implementation of the Awk programming language")
+   (description
+    "Many computer users need to manipulate text files: extract and then
+operate on data from parts of certain lines while discarding the rest, make
+changes in various text files wherever certain patterns appear, and so on.
+To write a program to do these things in a language such as C or Pascal is a
+time-consuming inconvenience that may take many lines of code.  The job is
+easy with awk, especially the GNU implementation: Gawk.
+
+The awk utility interprets a special-purpose programming language that makes
+it possible to handle many data-reformatting jobs with just a few lines of
+code.")
+   (license "GPLv3+")))
diff --git a/distro/packages/guile.scm b/distro/packages/guile.scm
index 451328fe6a..9ff17f23d1 100644
--- a/distro/packages/guile.scm
+++ b/distro/packages/guile.scm
@@ -17,7 +17,16 @@
 ;;; along with Guix.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
 (define-module (distro packages guile)
-  #:use-module (distro packages base)
+  #:use-module (distro)
+  #:use-module (distro packages bdw-gc)
+  #:use-module (distro packages gawk)
+  #:use-module (distro packages libffi)
+  #:use-module (distro packages libtool)
+  #:use-module (distro packages libunistring)
+  #:use-module (distro packages m4)
+  #:use-module (distro packages multiprecision)
+  #:use-module (distro packages pkg-config)
+  #:use-module (distro packages readline)
   #:use-module (guix packages)
   #:use-module (guix http)
   #:use-module (guix utils)
@@ -25,10 +34,107 @@
 
 ;;; Commentary:
 ;;;
-;;; Modules and extensions for GNU Guile.
+;;; GNU Guile, and modules and extensions.
 ;;;
 ;;; Code:
 
+(define-public guile-1.8
+  (package
+   (name "guile")
+   (version "1.8.8")
+   (source (origin
+            (method http-fetch)
+            (uri (string-append "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/guile/guile-" version
+                                ".tar.gz"))
+            (sha256
+             (base32
+              "0l200a0v7h8bh0cwz6v7hc13ds39cgqsmfrks55b1rbj5vniyiy3"))))
+   (build-system gnu-build-system)
+   (arguments '(#:configure-flags '("--disable-error-on-warning")
+                #:patches (list (assoc-ref %build-inputs "patch/snarf"))
+
+                ;; Insert a phase before `configure' to patch things up.
+                #:phases (alist-cons-before
+                           'configure
+                           'patch-loader-search-path
+                           (lambda* (#:key outputs #:allow-other-keys)
+                             ;; Add a call to `lt_dladdsearchdir' so that
+                             ;; `libguile-readline.so' & co. are in the
+                             ;; loader's search path.
+                             (substitute* "libguile/dynl.c"
+                                          (("lt_dlinit.*$" match)
+                                           (format #f
+                                                   "  ~a~%  lt_dladdsearchdir(\"~a/lib\");~%"
+                                                   match
+                                                   (assoc-ref outputs "out")))))
+                           %standard-phases)))
+   (inputs `(("patch/snarf" ,(search-patch "guile-1.8-cpp-4.5.patch"))
+             ("gawk" ,gawk)
+             ("readline" ,readline)))
+
+   ;; Since `guile-1.8.pc' has "Libs: ... -lgmp -lltdl", these must be
+   ;; propagated.
+   (propagated-inputs `(("gmp" ,gmp)
+                        ("libtool" ,libtool)))
+
+   ;; When cross-compiling, a native version of Guile itself is needed.
+   (self-native-input? #t)
+
+   (synopsis "GNU Guile 1.8, an embeddable Scheme interpreter")
+   (description
+"GNU Guile 1.8 is an interpreter for the Scheme programming language,
+packaged as a library that can be embedded into programs to make them
+extensible.  It supports many SRFIs.")
+   (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/")
+   (license "LGPLv2+")))
+
+(define-public guile-2.0
+  (package
+   (name "guile")
+   (version "2.0.6")
+   (source (origin
+            (method http-fetch)
+            (uri (string-append "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/guile/guile-" version
+                                ".tar.xz"))
+            (sha256
+             (base32
+              "000ng5qsq3cl1k35jvzvhwxj92wx4q87745n2fppkd4irh58vv5l"))))
+   (build-system gnu-build-system)
+   (native-inputs `(("pkgconfig" ,pkg-config)))
+   (inputs `(("libffi" ,libffi)
+             ("readline" ,readline)))
+
+   (propagated-inputs
+    `( ;; These ones aren't normally needed here, but since `libguile-2.0.la'
+       ;; reads `-lltdl -lunistring', adding them here will add the needed
+       ;; `-L' flags.  As for why the `.la' file lacks the `-L' flags, see
+       ;; <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lib.gnulib.bugs/18903>.
+      ("libunistring" ,libunistring)
+      ("libtool" ,libtool)
+
+      ;; The headers and/or `guile-2.0.pc' refer to these packages, so they
+      ;; must be propagated.
+      ("bdw-gc" ,libgc)
+      ("gmp" ,gmp)))
+
+   (self-native-input? #t)
+
+   (synopsis "GNU Guile 2.0, an embeddable Scheme implementation")
+   (description
+"GNU Guile is an implementation of the Scheme programming language, with
+support for many SRFIs, packaged for use in a wide variety of environments.
+In addition to implementing the R5RS Scheme standard and a large subset of
+R6RS, Guile includes a module system, full access to POSIX system calls,
+networking support, multiple threads, dynamic linking, a foreign function
+call interface, and powerful string processing.")
+   (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/")
+   (license "LGPLv3+")))
+
+
+;;;
+;;; Extensions.
+;;;
+
 (define (guile-reader guile)
   "Build Guile-Reader against GUILE, a package of some version of Guile 1.8
 or 2.0."
@@ -45,7 +151,8 @@ or 2.0."
                "1svlyk5pm4fsdp2g7n6qffdl6fdggxnlicj0jn9s4lxd63gzxy1n"))))
    (build-system gnu-build-system)
    (native-inputs `(("pkgconfig" ,pkg-config)
-                    ("gperf" ,(nixpkgs-derivation "gperf"))))
+                    ("gperf" ,(false-if-exception ; FIXME
+                               (nixpkgs-derivation "gperf")))))
    (inputs `(("guile" ,guile)))
    (synopsis "Guile-Reader, a simple framework for building readers for
 GNU Guile")
diff --git a/distro/packages/libffi.scm b/distro/packages/libffi.scm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dca0387433
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distro/packages/libffi.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+;;; Guix --- Nix package management from Guile.         -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+;;; Copyright (C) 2012 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+;;;
+;;; This file is part of Guix.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+;;; under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+;;; the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
+;;; your option) any later version.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+;;; WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+;;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+;;; GNU General Public License for more details.
+;;;
+;;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+;;; along with Guix.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+(define-module (distro packages libffi)
+  #:use-module (guix packages)
+  #:use-module (guix ftp)
+  #:use-module (guix utils)
+  #:use-module (guix build-system gnu))
+
+(define-public libffi
+  (let ((post-install-phase
+         ;; Install headers in the right place.
+         '(lambda* (#:key outputs #:allow-other-keys)
+            (define out (assoc-ref outputs "out"))
+            (mkdir (string-append out "/include"))
+            (with-directory-excursion
+                (string-append out "/lib/libffi-3.0.9/include")
+              (for-each (lambda (h)
+                          (format #t "moving `~a' to includedir~%" h)
+                          (rename-file h (string-append out "/include/" h)))
+                        (scandir "."
+                                 (lambda (x)
+                                   (not (member x '("." ".."))))))))))
+   (package
+    (name "libffi")
+    (version "3.0.9")
+    (source (origin
+             (method ftp-fetch)
+             (uri
+              (string-append "ftp://sourceware.org/pub/libffi/"
+                             name "-" version ".tar.gz"))
+             (sha256
+              (base32
+               "0ln4jbpb6clcsdpb9niqk0frgx4k0xki96wiv067ig0q4cajb7aq"))))
+    (build-system gnu-build-system)
+    (arguments `(#:modules ((guix build utils) (guix build gnu-build-system)
+                            (ice-9 ftw) (srfi srfi-26))
+                 #:phases (alist-cons-after 'install 'post-install
+                                            ,post-install-phase
+                                            %standard-phases)))
+    (synopsis "libffi, a foreign function call interface library")
+    (description
+     "The libffi library provides a portable, high level programming interface
+to various calling conventions.  This allows a programmer to call any
+function specified by a call interface description at run-time.
+
+FFI stands for Foreign Function Interface.  A foreign function interface is
+the popular name for the interface that allows code written in one language
+to call code written in another language.  The libffi library really only
+provides the lowest, machine dependent layer of a fully featured foreign
+function interface.  A layer must exist above libffi that handles type
+conversions for values passed between the two languages.")
+    (home-page "http://sources.redhat.com/libffi/")
+
+    ;; See <http://github.com/atgreen/libffi/blob/master/LICENSE>.
+    (license "free, non-copyleft"))))
+
diff --git a/distro/packages/libsigsegv.scm b/distro/packages/libsigsegv.scm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9c6d80296d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distro/packages/libsigsegv.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+;;; Guix --- Nix package management from Guile.         -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+;;; Copyright (C) 2012 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+;;;
+;;; This file is part of Guix.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+;;; under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+;;; the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
+;;; your option) any later version.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+;;; WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+;;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+;;; GNU General Public License for more details.
+;;;
+;;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+;;; along with Guix.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+(define-module (distro packages libsigsegv)
+  #:use-module (guix packages)
+  #:use-module (guix http)
+  #:use-module (guix utils)
+  #:use-module (guix build-system gnu))
+
+(define-public libsigsegv
+  (package
+   (name "libsigsegv")
+   (version "2.10")
+   (source (origin
+            (method http-fetch)
+            (uri (string-append
+                  "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/libsigsegv/libsigsegv-"
+                  version ".tar.gz"))
+            (sha256
+             (base32 "16hrs8k3nmc7a8jam5j1fpspd6sdpkamskvsdpcw6m29vnis8q44"))))
+   (build-system gnu-build-system)
+   (outputs '("out" "lib"))                   ; separate libdir from the rest
+   (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/libsigsegv/")
+   (synopsis "GNU libsigsegv, a library to handle page faults in user mode")
+   (description
+"GNU libsigsegv is a library for handling page faults in user mode. A page
+fault occurs when a program tries to access to a region of memory that is
+currently not available. Catching and handling a page fault is a useful
+technique for implementing pageable virtual memory, memory-mapped access to
+persistent databases, generational garbage collectors, stack overflow
+handlers, distributed shared memory, and more.")
+   (license "GPLv2+")))
diff --git a/distro/packages/libtool.scm b/distro/packages/libtool.scm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..02af715d32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distro/packages/libtool.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+;;; Guix --- Nix package management from Guile.         -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+;;; Copyright (C) 2012 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+;;;
+;;; This file is part of Guix.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+;;; under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+;;; the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
+;;; your option) any later version.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+;;; WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+;;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+;;; GNU General Public License for more details.
+;;;
+;;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+;;; along with Guix.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+(define-module (distro packages libtool)
+  #:use-module (distro)
+  #:use-module (distro packages m4)
+  #:use-module (distro packages perl)
+  #:use-module (guix packages)
+  #:use-module (guix http)
+  #:use-module (guix utils)
+  #:use-module (guix build-system gnu))
+
+(define-public libtool
+  (package
+   (name "libtool")
+   (version "2.4.2")
+   (source (origin
+            (method http-fetch)
+            (uri (string-append "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/libtool/libtool-"
+                                version ".tar.gz"))
+            (sha256
+             (base32
+              "0649qfpzkswgcj9vqkkr9rn4nlcx80faxpyqscy2k1x9c94f93dk"))))
+   (build-system gnu-build-system)
+   (native-inputs `(("m4" ,m4)
+                    ("perl" ,perl)))
+   (arguments
+    ;; TODO: Use `TESTSUITEFLAGS=-jN' for tests.
+    `(#:patches (list (assoc-ref %build-inputs "patch/skip-tests"))))
+   (inputs `(("patch/skip-tests"
+              ,(search-patch "libtool-skip-tests.patch"))))
+   (synopsis "GNU Libtool, a generic library support script")
+   (description
+    "GNU libtool is a generic library support script.  Libtool hides the
+complexity of using shared libraries behind a consistent, portable interface.
+
+To use libtool, add the new generic library building commands to your
+Makefile, Makefile.in, or Makefile.am.  See the documentation for
+details.")
+   (license "GPLv3+")
+   (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/")))
diff --git a/distro/packages/libunistring.scm b/distro/packages/libunistring.scm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fb912eaf8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distro/packages/libunistring.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+;;; Guix --- Nix package management from Guile.         -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+;;; Copyright (C) 2012 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+;;;
+;;; This file is part of Guix.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+;;; under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+;;; the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
+;;; your option) any later version.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+;;; WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+;;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+;;; GNU General Public License for more details.
+;;;
+;;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+;;; along with Guix.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+(define-module (distro packages libunistring)
+  #:use-module (guix packages)
+  #:use-module (guix http)
+  #:use-module (guix utils)
+  #:use-module (guix build-system gnu))
+
+(define-public libunistring
+  (package
+   (name "libunistring")
+   (version "0.9.3")
+   (source (origin
+            (method http-fetch)
+            (uri (string-append
+                  "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/libunistring/libunistring-"
+                  version ".tar.gz"))
+            (sha256
+             (base32
+              "18q620269xzpw39dwvr9zpilnl2dkw5z5kz3mxaadnpv4k3kw3b1"))))
+   (propagated-inputs '())                  ; FIXME: add libiconv when !glibc
+   (build-system gnu-build-system)
+   (synopsis "GNU Libunistring, a Unicode string library")
+   (description
+    "This library provides functions for manipulating Unicode strings and for
+manipulating C strings according to the Unicode standard.
+
+GNU libunistring is for you if your application involves non-trivial text
+processing, such as upper/lower case conversions, line breaking, operations
+on words, or more advanced analysis of text.  Text provided by the user can,
+in general, contain characters of all kinds of scripts.  The text processing
+functions provided by this library handle all scripts and all languages.
+
+libunistring is for you if your application already uses the ISO C / POSIX
+<ctype.h>, <wctype.h> functions and the text it operates on is provided by
+the user and can be in any language.
+
+libunistring is also for you if your application uses Unicode strings as
+internal in-memory representation.")
+   (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/libunistring/")
+   (license "LGPLv3+")))
diff --git a/distro/packages/m4.scm b/distro/packages/m4.scm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7097ffb68f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distro/packages/m4.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+;;; Guix --- Nix package management from Guile.         -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+;;; Copyright (C) 2012 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+;;;
+;;; This file is part of Guix.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+;;; under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+;;; the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
+;;; your option) any later version.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+;;; WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+;;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+;;; GNU General Public License for more details.
+;;;
+;;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+;;; along with Guix.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+(define-module (distro packages m4)
+  #:use-module (distro)
+  #:use-module (guix packages)
+  #:use-module (guix http)
+  #:use-module (guix utils)
+  #:use-module (guix build-system gnu))
+
+(define-public m4
+  (package
+   (name "m4")
+   (version "1.4.16")
+   (source (origin
+            (method http-fetch)
+            (uri (string-append "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/m4/m4-"
+                                version ".tar.bz2"))
+            (sha256
+             (base32
+              "035r7ma272j2cwni2961jp22k6bn3n9xwn3b3qbcn2yrvlghql22"))))
+   (build-system gnu-build-system)
+   (arguments (case-lambda
+                ((system)
+                 ;; XXX: Disable tests on those platforms with know issues.
+                 `(#:tests? ,(not (member system
+                                          '("x86_64-darwin"
+                                            "i686-cygwin"
+                                            "i686-sunos")))
+                   #:patches (list (assoc-ref %build-inputs "patch/s_isdir")
+                                   (assoc-ref %build-inputs
+                                              "patch/readlink-EINVAL")
+                                   (assoc-ref %build-inputs "patch/gets"))))
+                ((system cross-system)
+                 `(#:patches (list (assoc-ref %build-inputs "patch/s_isdir")
+                                   (assoc-ref %build-inputs
+                                              "patch/readlink-EINVAL")
+                                   (assoc-ref %build-inputs "patch/gets"))))))
+   (inputs `(("patch/s_isdir" ,(search-patch "m4-s_isdir.patch"))
+             ("patch/readlink-EINVAL"
+              ,(search-patch "m4-readlink-EINVAL.patch"))
+             ("patch/gets" ,(search-patch "m4-gets-undeclared.patch"))))
+   (synopsis "GNU M4, a macro processor")
+   (description
+    "GNU M4 is an implementation of the traditional Unix macro processor.  It
+is mostly SVR4 compatible although it has some extensions (for example,
+handling more than 9 positional parameters to macros).  GNU M4 also has
+built-in functions for including files, running shell commands, doing
+arithmetic, etc.
+
+GNU M4 is a macro processor in the sense that it copies its input to the
+output expanding macros as it goes.  Macros are either builtin or
+user-defined and can take any number of arguments.  Besides just doing macro
+expansion, m4 has builtin functions for including named files, running UNIX
+commands, doing integer arithmetic, manipulating text in various ways,
+recursion etc...  m4 can be used either as a front-end to a compiler or as a
+macro processor in its own right.")
+   (license "GPLv3+")
+   (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/m4/")))
diff --git a/distro/packages/multiprecision.scm b/distro/packages/multiprecision.scm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..98e4c72a72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distro/packages/multiprecision.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+;;; Guix --- Nix package management from Guile.         -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+;;; Copyright (C) 2012 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+;;;
+;;; This file is part of Guix.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+;;; under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+;;; the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
+;;; your option) any later version.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+;;; WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+;;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+;;; GNU General Public License for more details.
+;;;
+;;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+;;; along with Guix.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+(define-module (distro packages multiprecision)
+  #:use-module (distro)
+  #:use-module (distro packages m4)
+  #:use-module (guix packages)
+  #:use-module (guix http)
+  #:use-module (guix utils)
+  #:use-module (guix build-system gnu))
+
+(define-public gmp
+  (package
+   (name "gmp")
+   (version "5.0.5")
+   (source (origin
+            (method http-fetch)
+            (uri (string-append "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gmp/gmp-" version
+                                ".tar.bz2"))
+            (sha256
+             (base32
+              "1jfymbr90mpn0zw5sg001llqnvf2462y77vgjknrmfs1rjn8ln0z"))))
+   (build-system gnu-build-system)
+   (native-inputs `(("m4" ,m4)))
+   (arguments `(#:configure-flags
+                '(;; Build a "fat binary", with routines for several
+                  ;; sub-architectures.
+                  "--enable-fat"
+                  "--enable-cxx")))
+   (synopsis "GMP, the GNU multiple precision arithmetic library")
+   (description
+    "GMP is a free library for arbitrary precision arithmetic, operating on
+signed integers, rational numbers, and floating point numbers.  There is no
+practical limit to the precision except the ones implied by the available
+memory in the machine GMP runs on.  GMP has a rich set of functions, and the
+functions have a regular interface.
+
+The main target applications for GMP are cryptography applications and
+research, Internet security applications, algebra systems, computational
+algebra research, etc.
+
+GMP is carefully designed to be as fast as possible, both for small operands
+and for huge operands.  The speed is achieved by using fullwords as the basic
+arithmetic type, by using fast algorithms, with highly optimised assembly
+code for the most common inner loops for a lot of CPUs, and by a general
+emphasis on speed.
+
+GMP is faster than any other bignum library.  The advantage for GMP increases
+with the operand sizes for many operations, since GMP uses asymptotically
+faster algorithms.")
+   (license "LGPLv3+")
+   (home-page "http://gmplib.org/")))
+
+(define-public mpfr
+  (package
+   (name "mpfr")
+   (version "3.1.1")
+   (source (origin
+            (method http-fetch)
+            (uri (string-append "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/mpfr/mpfr-" version
+                                ".tar.xz"))
+            (sha256 (base32
+                     "0ym1ylcq803n52qrggxqmkz66gbn8ncc3ybawal31v5y5p1srma9"))))
+   (build-system gnu-build-system)
+   (inputs `(("gmp" ,gmp)))
+   (synopsis "GNU MPFR, a library for multiple-precision floating-point
+arithmetic")
+   (description
+    "The GNU MPFR library is a C library for multiple-precision
+floating-point computations with correct rounding.  MPFR is based on the GMP
+multiple-precision library.
+
+The main goal of MPFR is to provide a library for multiple-precision
+floating-point computation which is both efficient and has a well-defined
+semantics.  It copies the good ideas from the ANSI/IEEE-754 standard for
+double-precision floating-point arithmetic (53-bit mantissa).")
+   (license "LGPLv3+")
+   (home-page "http://www.mpfr.org/")))
+
+(define-public mpc
+  (package
+   (name "mpc")
+   (version "1.0")
+   (source (origin
+            (method http-fetch)
+            (uri (string-append
+                  "http://www.multiprecision.org/mpc/download/mpc-"
+                  version ".tar.gz"))
+            (sha256 (base32
+                     "00rxjmkpqnv6zzcyw9aa5w6rzaav32ys87km25zgfcv9i32km5cw"))))
+   (build-system gnu-build-system)
+   (inputs `(("gmp" ,gmp)
+             ("mpfr" ,mpfr)))
+   (synopsis "GNU MPC, a library for multiprecision complex arithmetic
+with exact rounding")
+   (description
+    "GNU MPC is a C library for the arithmetic of complex numbers with
+arbitrarily high precision and correct rounding of the result.  It is built
+upon and follows the same principles as GNU MPFR.")
+   (license "LGPLv3+")
+   (home-page "http://mpc.multiprecision.org/")))
diff --git a/distro/packages/ncurses.scm b/distro/packages/ncurses.scm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d9c31c6fee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distro/packages/ncurses.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+;;; Guix --- Nix package management from Guile.         -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+;;; Copyright (C) 2012 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+;;;
+;;; This file is part of Guix.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+;;; under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+;;; the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
+;;; your option) any later version.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+;;; WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+;;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+;;; GNU General Public License for more details.
+;;;
+;;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+;;; along with Guix.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+(define-module (distro packages ncurses)
+  #:use-module (guix packages)
+  #:use-module (guix http)
+  #:use-module (guix utils)
+  #:use-module (guix build-system gnu))
+
+(define-public ncurses
+  (let ((post-install-phase
+         '(lambda* (#:key outputs #:allow-other-keys)
+            (let ((out (assoc-ref outputs "out")))
+              ;; When building a wide-character (Unicode) build, create backward
+              ;; compatibility links from the the "normal" libraries to the
+              ;; wide-character libraries (e.g. libncurses.so to libncursesw.so).
+              (with-directory-excursion (string-append out "/lib")
+                (for-each (lambda (lib)
+                            (define libw.a
+                              (string-append "lib" lib "w.a"))
+                            (define lib.a
+                              (string-append "lib" lib ".a"))
+                            (define libw.so.x
+                              (string-append "lib" lib "w.so.5"))
+                            (define lib.so.x
+                              (string-append "lib" lib ".so.5"))
+                            (define lib.so
+                              (string-append "lib" lib ".so"))
+
+                            (when (file-exists? libw.a)
+                              (format #t "creating symlinks for `lib~a'~%" lib)
+                              (symlink libw.a lib.a)
+                              (symlink libw.so.x lib.so.x)
+                              (false-if-exception (delete-file lib.so))
+                              (call-with-output-file lib.so
+                                (lambda (p)
+                                  (format p "INPUT (-l~aw)~%" lib)))))
+                          '("curses" "ncurses" "form" "panel" "menu")))))))
+    (package
+     (name "ncurses")
+     (version "5.9")
+     (source (origin
+              (method http-fetch)
+              (uri (string-append "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ncurses-"
+                                  version ".tar.gz"))
+              (sha256
+               (base32
+                "0fsn7xis81za62afan0vvm38bvgzg5wfmv1m86flqcj0nj7jjilh"))))
+     (build-system gnu-build-system)
+     (arguments
+      (case-lambda
+        ((system)
+         `(#:configure-flags
+           `("--with-shared" "--without-debug" "--enable-widec"
+
+             ;; By default headers land in an `ncursesw' subdir, which is not
+             ;; what users expect.
+             ,(string-append "--includedir=" (assoc-ref %outputs "out")
+                             "/include")
+
+             ;; C++ bindings fail to build on
+             ;; `i386-pc-solaris2.11' with GCC 3.4.3:
+             ;; <http://bugs.opensolaris.org/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6395191>.
+             ,,@(if (string=? system "i686-solaris")
+                    '("--without-cxx-binding")
+                    '()))
+           #:tests? #f                            ; no "check" target
+           #:phases (alist-cons-after 'install 'post-install
+                                      ,post-install-phase
+                                      %standard-phases)
+
+           ;; The `ncursesw5-config' has a #!/bin/sh that we don't want to
+           ;; patch, to avoid retaining a reference to the build-time Bash.
+           #:patch-shebangs? #f))
+        ((system cross-system)
+         (arguments cross-system))))
+     (self-native-input? #t)
+     (synopsis
+      "GNU Ncurses, a free software emulation of curses in SVR4 and more")
+     (description
+      "The Ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of curses
+in System V Release 4.0, and more.  It uses Terminfo format, supports pads
+and color and multiple highlights and forms characters and function-key
+mapping, and has all the other SYSV-curses enhancements over BSD Curses.
+
+The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux.  It has been in use for some
+time with OpenBSD as the system curses library, and on FreeBSD and NetBSD as
+an external package.  It should port easily to any ANSI/POSIX-conforming
+UNIX.  It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp!")
+     (license "X11")
+     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/ncurses/"))))
diff --git a/distro/packages/perl.scm b/distro/packages/perl.scm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7e6cf0e4f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distro/packages/perl.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+;;; Guix --- Nix package management from Guile.         -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+;;; Copyright (C) 2012 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+;;;
+;;; This file is part of Guix.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+;;; under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+;;; the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
+;;; your option) any later version.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+;;; WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+;;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+;;; GNU General Public License for more details.
+;;;
+;;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+;;; along with Guix.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+(define-module (distro packages perl)
+  #:use-module (distro)
+  #:use-module (guix packages)
+  #:use-module (guix http)
+  #:use-module (guix utils)
+  #:use-module (guix build-system gnu))
+
+(define-public perl
+  ;; Yeah, Perl...  It is required early in the bootstrap process by Linux.
+  (package
+    (name "perl")
+    (version "5.16.1")
+    (source (origin
+             (method http-fetch)
+             (uri (string-append "http://www.cpan.org/src/5.0/perl-"
+                                 version ".tar.gz"))
+             (sha256
+              (base32
+               "15qxzba3a50c9nik5ydgyfp62x7h9vxxn12yd1jgl93hb1wj96km"))))
+    (build-system gnu-build-system)
+    (arguments
+     (lambda (system)
+       `(#:tests? #f
+         #:patches (list (assoc-ref %build-inputs "patch/no-sys-dirs"))
+         #:phases
+         (alist-replace
+          'configure
+          (lambda* (#:key inputs outputs #:allow-other-keys)
+            (let ((out  (assoc-ref outputs "out"))
+                  (libc (assoc-ref inputs "libc"))
+                  (pwd  (search-path (search-path-as-string->list
+                                      (getenv "PATH"))
+                                     "pwd")))
+              ;; Use the right path for `pwd'.
+              (substitute* "dist/Cwd/Cwd.pm"
+                (("/bin/pwd") pwd))
+
+              (zero?
+               (system* "/bin/sh" "./Configure"
+                        (string-append "-Dprefix=" out)
+                        (string-append "-Dman1dir=" out "/share/man/man1")
+                        (string-append "-Dman3dir=" out "/share/man/man3")
+                        "-de" "-Dcc=gcc"
+                        "-Uinstallusrbinperl"
+                        "-Dinstallstyle=lib/perl5"
+                        "-Duseshrplib"
+                        (string-append "-Dlocincpth=" libc "/include")
+                        (string-append "-Dloclibpth=" libc "/lib")))))
+          %standard-phases))))
+    (inputs `(("patch/no-sys-dirs" ,(search-patch "perl-no-sys-dirs.patch"))))
+    (synopsis "Implementation of the Perl programming language")
+    (description
+     "Perl 5 is a highly capable, feature-rich programming language with over
+24 years of development.")
+    (home-page "http://www.perl.org/")
+    (license "GPLv1+")))                          ; or "Artistic"
diff --git a/distro/packages/pkg-config.scm b/distro/packages/pkg-config.scm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7e44efb429
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distro/packages/pkg-config.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+;;; Guix --- Nix package management from Guile.         -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+;;; Copyright (C) 2012 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+;;;
+;;; This file is part of Guix.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+;;; under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+;;; the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
+;;; your option) any later version.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+;;; WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+;;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+;;; GNU General Public License for more details.
+;;;
+;;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+;;; along with Guix.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+(define-module (distro packages pkg-config)
+  #:use-module (guix packages)
+  #:use-module (guix http)
+  #:use-module (guix utils)
+  #:use-module (guix build-system gnu))
+
+(define-public pkg-config
+  (package
+   (name "pkg-config")
+   (version "0.27.1")
+   (source (origin
+            (method http-fetch)
+            (uri (string-append
+                  "http://pkgconfig.freedesktop.org/releases/pkg-config-"
+                  version ".tar.gz"))
+            (sha256
+             (base32
+              "05wc5nwkqz7saj2v33ydmz1y6jdg659dll4jjh91n41m63gx0qsg"))))
+   (build-system gnu-build-system)
+   (arguments `(#:configure-flags '("--with-internal-glib")))
+   (home-page "http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/pkg-config")
+   (license "GPLv2+")
+   (synopsis "a helper tool used when compiling applications and
+libraries")
+   (description
+    "pkg-config is a helper tool used when compiling applications and
+libraries.  It helps you insert the correct compiler options on the
+command line so an application can use gcc -o test test.c `pkg-config
+--libs --cflags glib-2.0` for instance, rather than hard-coding values
+on where to find glib (or other libraries). It is language-agnostic, so
+it can be used for defining the location of documentation tools, for
+instance.")))
diff --git a/distro/packages/readline.scm b/distro/packages/readline.scm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6e423cb01f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distro/packages/readline.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+;;; Guix --- Nix package management from Guile.         -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+;;; Copyright (C) 2012 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+;;;
+;;; This file is part of Guix.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+;;; under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+;;; the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
+;;; your option) any later version.
+;;;
+;;; Guix is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+;;; WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+;;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+;;; GNU General Public License for more details.
+;;;
+;;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+;;; along with Guix.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+(define-module (distro packages readline)
+  #:use-module (distro)
+  #:use-module (distro packages ncurses)
+  #:use-module (guix packages)
+  #:use-module (guix http)
+  #:use-module (guix utils)
+  #:use-module (guix build-system gnu))
+
+(define-public readline
+  (package
+   (name "readline")
+   (version "6.2")
+   (source (origin
+            (method http-fetch)
+            (uri (string-append "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/readline/readline-"
+                                version ".tar.gz"))
+            (sha256
+             (base32
+              "10ckm2bd2rkxhvdmj7nmbsylmihw0abwcsnxf8y27305183rd9kr"))))
+   (build-system gnu-build-system)
+   (propagated-inputs `(("ncurses" ,ncurses)))
+   (inputs `(("patch/link-ncurses"
+              ,(search-patch "readline-link-ncurses.patch"))))
+   (arguments `(#:patches (list (assoc-ref %build-inputs
+                                           "patch/link-ncurses"))
+                #:patch-flags '("-p0")
+                #:configure-flags
+                (list (string-append "LDFLAGS=-Wl,-rpath -Wl,"
+                                     (assoc-ref %build-inputs "ncurses")
+                                     "/lib"))))
+   (synopsis "GNU Readline, a library for interactive line editing")
+   (description
+    "The GNU Readline library provides a set of functions for use by
+applications that allow users to edit command lines as they are typed in.
+Both Emacs and vi editing modes are available.  The Readline library includes
+additional functions to maintain a list of previously-entered command lines,
+to recall and perhaps reedit those lines, and perform csh-like history
+expansion on previous commands.
+
+The history facilites are also placed into a separate library, the History
+library, as part of the build process.  The History library may be used
+without Readline in applications which desire its capabilities.")
+   (license "GPLv3+")
+   (home-page "http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/readline/")))