Re: Changing the PATH from emacs?

[Sven Joachim <svenjoac@gmx.de>]

On 2008-02-11 17:28 +0100, Stefan Arentz wrote:

> I'm using Emacs.app, the Carbon emacs for OS X. Works great, but it
> can't find ispell, which was installed in /opt/local/bin, a path that
> is not by default in the system PATH.
>
> There doesn't seem to be a way to do this through Emacs.app/Info.plist
> so my question is whether it possible to change the PATH from my
> .emacs profile?

I think you should not change PATH, but rather the `exec-path' Lisp
variable.  Quoting the Emacs Lisp reference manual:

,----
|  -- User Option: exec-path
|      The value of this variable is a list of directories to search for
|      programs to run in subprocesses.  Each element is either the name
|      of a directory (i.e., a string), or `nil', which stands for the
|      default directory (which is the value of `default-directory').  
| 
|      The value of `exec-path' is used by `call-process' and
|      `start-process' when the PROGRAM argument is not an absolute file
|      name.
`----

You can use add-to-list to add elements there, e.g.

(add-to-list 'exec-path "/opt/local/bin" t)

to let Emacs search for programs in /opt/local/bin.

Sven