Re: Can I easily install GNU Emacs 27.1.50 via Guix?

[Carlo Zancanaro]

Hi Simon,

On Sat, Dec 19 2020, zimoun wrote:
> I am not sure to agree.  The unexpected (by you :-)) behaviour 
> at hand is about Emacs and "M-x shell"; and I will not speak "in 
> general".

Let's avoid using the word "expected", because that word in this 
context can mean different things. I don't "expect" the behaviour 
when I think about Guix from a user's perspective, but I do 
"expect" the behaviour because I know Guix's implementation 
details.

Instead, let's talk about what behaviour we want.

I want to be able to use programs installed by Guix to launch 
programs installed by a host distribution's package manager, and 
have them function properly. This is not currently the case, 
because of the way Guix uses environment variables to set search 
paths. In this particular thread we have been talking about Emacs, 
but the problem is not limited to Emacs.

Is there an argument for the current behaviour? I'm not aware of 
anyone arguing that we want to break programs installed by a host 
distribution when we launch them from a Guix installed program. 
> From my perspective the only argument here is "making it work is 
hard, so we haven't done it". This is a good reason for the 
current state of things, but it is not a reason to avoid calling 
this a bug.

> Well, if you feel it is a bug, please open a bug report 
> detailing what is the problem.  Personally, I do miss what it is 
> and what could be the actionable next step.

Sure. I'll add it to my to-do list.

Carlo