Re: $EDITOR and “guix edit”

[Liliana Marie Prikler <liliana.prikler@gmail.com>]

Am Freitag, dem 12.01.2024 um 10:35 +0100 schrieb Simon Tournier:
> Hi,
> 
> On Mon, 20 Nov 2023 at 20:33, Liliana Marie Prikler
> <liliana.prikler@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > >  2. Do we put this code in some etc/vscode-wrapper that user can
> > >  install?  (or that we could automatically installl) Or maybe
> > > revamp it for calling this code via some shell function?
> > 
> > With VSCode et al. not being Guix packages, I see little point in
> > providing these wrappers through Guix itself.
> 
> I do not want to address here where to keep VSCode support and
> instead I would like to address $EDITOR which does not follow the
> good ol’ fashion.
> 
> Well, I see how to write specific Scheme wrapper around $EDITOR; as I
> did in [1].
> 
> Or, I see how to tweak guix/scripts/edit.scm for running specific
> launcher depending on $EDITOR.
> 
> Liliana, could you provide a proof-of-concept about « the shell-esque
> "${LINE}" and "${FILE}" that would get replaced by Scheme code
> looking for those strings »?  Because I do not see what you mean.
(let* ((editor (getenv "GUIX_EDITOR"))
       (editor (string-replace-substring editor "${FILE}" the-file))
       (editor (string-replace-substring editor "${LINE}" the-line)))
  editor)
with the-file and the-line being placeholders for the actual variable
names.  You could obviously do smarter things with gash, but let's not
go there at the moment.

> Cheers,
> simon
> 
> 1:
> https://gitlab.com/zimoun/advanced-packages-2023/-/blob/main/vscode-wrapper?ref_type=heads
> 
> PS:
> 
> About VSCode.  Somehow, it is a chicken-or-the-eggs problem.  “We“
> cannot complain with lengthy threads about the lack of contributor
> diversity, or that many Guix tools are Emacs-centric, etc. and in the
> same time say no because VSCode is not packaged in Guix proper.
> 
> We like it or not – I do not like it and do not use it! – for sure,
> VSCode is currently one of the most used editor around.  Being
> friendly with VSCode users would help to have more contributions from
> them.
Speaking of diversity, how well does your wrapper work for Atom?  Or
Kate?  IMHO, going out of our way to specifically support VSCode would
break not one, but at least two of our core principles, whereas
offering an option that you can plug any $EDITOR into would not only be
the technically, but also morally superior choice.
 
Cheers