[bug#60112] Drafting a Guix blog post on the FHS container

[bug#60112] Drafting a Guix blog post on the FHS container

[jman via Guix-patches via]

Hello and sorry for getting into this comment thread.

I have posted a few days ago a question about preserving env vars
when creating a container with FHS emulation:
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2023-01/msg00002.html

I think it's something about me not understanding how it works. By
reading my question, is there anything useful to add to the blog post to
clarify its usage?

If not, simply discard this comment :-)

thanks

[bug#60112] [PATCH] website: Add post about guix shell fhs option.

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi jman,

jman <srht@city17.xyz> skribis:

> Hello and sorry for getting into this comment thread.
>
> I have posted a few days ago a question about preserving env vars
> when creating a container with FHS emulation:
> https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2023-01/msg00002.html

The ‘PATH’ environment variable, and only this one, is overridden
unconditionally when using ‘--emulate-fhs’; quoth ‘environment.scm’:

   (when emulate-fhs?
     ;; When running in a container with EMULATE-FHS?, override $PATH
     ;; (optional, but to better match FHS expectations), and generate
     ;; /etc/ld.so.cache.
     (setenv "PATH" "/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin")
     (invoke "ldconfig" "-X"))

Other variables are preserved, as in this example:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
$ FOO=bar guix shell -CF -E ^FOO coreutils -- env | grep FOO
FOO=bar
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

HTH!

Ludo’.

[bug#60112] [PATCH] website: Add post about guix shell fhs option.

[John Kehayias via Guix-patches via]

On Thu, Jan 05, 2023 at 10:00 PM, Ludovic Courtès wrote:

> Hi jman,
>
> jman <srht@city17.xyz> skribis:
>
>> Hello and sorry for getting into this comment thread.
>>
>> I have posted a few days ago a question about preserving env vars
>> when creating a container with FHS emulation:
>> <https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2023-01/msg00002.html>
>
> The ‘PATH’ environment variable, and only this one, is overridden
> unconditionally when using ‘--emulate-fhs’; quoth ‘environment.scm’:
>
>    (when emulate-fhs?
>      ;; When running in a container with EMULATE-FHS?, override $PATH
>      ;; (optional, but to better match FHS expectations), and generate
>      ;; /etc/ld.so.cache.
>      (setenv "PATH" "/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin")
>      (invoke "ldconfig" "-X"))
>
> Other variables are preserved, as in this example:
>
> $ FOO=bar guix shell -CF -E ^FOO coreutils -- env | grep FOO
> FOO=bar
>
> HTH!
>
> Ludo’.

Now filed by jman as <https://issues.guix.gnu.org/60566> after discussion on #guix. I think it is a bug (say you want to preserve PATH as you have some scripts in ~/.local/bin for example) and I have a patch to fix. I'll send it to that bug and CC you (Ludo’) as well.

John