From: "Ludovic Courtès" <ludo@gnu.org>
To: Liliana Marie Prikler <liliana.prikler@gmail.com>
Cc: 53447@debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: [bug#53447] [PATCH] doc: Unset environment variables considered harmful
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2022 17:04:25 +0100 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <875yqb21va.fsf@gnu.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <a57ac1e74fda0ee2585d4a3cb3244fcbcb0c84a3.camel@gmail.com> (Liliana Marie Prikler's message of "Sat, 22 Jan 2022 15:13:20 +0100")
Hi Liliana,
Liliana Marie Prikler <liliana.prikler@gmail.com> skribis:
> * doc/guix.texi (Application Setup): Add subsection for implicit environment
> variables.
> ---
> doc/guix.texi | 27 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> 1 file changed, 27 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi
> index 912a8e3c5a..805e3b611f 100644
> --- a/doc/guix.texi
> +++ b/doc/guix.texi
> @@ -2023,6 +2023,33 @@ want to avoid auto-loading the Emacs packages installed with Guix, you
> can do so by running Emacs with the @option{--no-site-file} option
> (@pxref{Init File,,, emacs, The GNU Emacs Manual}).
>
> +@subsection Implicit Environment Variables
> +
> +Many environment variables are defined in a way that assumes a certain
> +default value, even if unset. For example, bash uses the current
> +working directory as @env{PATH} if unset, or @env{XDG_CONFIG_HOME}
> +expands to @file{$HOME/.config}. Some of these defaults remain the same
> +whether a package is used through Guix or not---however, environment
> +variables referring to @file{/etc} or @file{/usr} typically have their
> +meaning subtly changed in Guix. An application installed via Guix might
> +instead look up files in its own @file{etc} structure, or (if a
> +search-path was specified) even override the default for packages from
> +the foreign distro.
I think I miss some context: what concrete problem is this trying to
solve? What is it telling me to do?
I wonder to what extent this is actionable for a user, due to wording
that leaves it up to the reader to figure out how this applies to them:
“Many environment variables”
“a certain default value”
“Some of these”
“An application installed via Guix might”
“problems coming from such implicitly defined”
…
I think the “Application Setup” section should be as concrete as
possible, with clear instructions (“If X then type Y”), possibly
followed by explanations that curious readers can read and that others
can skip.
WDYT?
Ludo’.
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2022-01-22 16:06 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 11+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2022-01-22 14:13 [bug#53447] [PATCH] doc: Unset environment variables considered harmful Liliana Marie Prikler
2022-01-22 16:04 ` Ludovic Courtès [this message]
2022-01-22 17:53 ` Liliana Marie Prikler
2022-01-24 22:27 ` Maxim Cournoyer
2022-01-25 13:29 ` [bug#53447] Introducing ‘GUIX_’-prefixed environment variables Ludovic Courtès
2022-01-26 1:56 ` Maxim Cournoyer
2022-01-26 12:05 ` Ludovic Courtès
2022-01-26 20:03 ` Liliana Marie Prikler
2022-01-27 4:53 ` Maxim Cournoyer
2022-01-25 7:39 ` [bug#53447] [PATCH] doc: Unset environment variables considered harmful Ludovic Courtès
2022-01-25 19:21 ` Liliana Marie Prikler
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