[Chicken-janitors] #1270: process procedures should expect their env parameter in the same format get-environment-variables uses

[Chicken Trac]

#1270: process procedures should expect their env parameter in the same format
get-environment-variables uses
-------------------------------+--------------------
 Reporter:  ckeen              |      Owner:
     Type:  change request     |     Status:  new
 Priority:  not urgent at all  |  Milestone:  5.0
Component:  core libraries     |    Version:  4.10.x
 Keywords:                     |
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 The current posix unit uses alists in get-environment-variables but
 expects lists of strings ("VAR=VAL" "VAR2"="VAL2") as the environment
 variable.

 The reason for this is that they will get handed through to the libc's
 execve function.

 My proposal is to change this behaviour to take alists as these are easier
 to handle in scheme and feel more natural.

 Currently every user program needs to do this on its own, for example:

 {{{
 (define (update-environment updates)
   (let ((env (get-environment-variables)))
     (map
      (lambda (e)
        (string-append (car e) "=" (cdr e)))
      (fold (lambda (u env)
              (alist-update (car u) (cdr u) env equal?))
            env updates))))
 }}}

 Potentially this will break a lot of code, therefore I propose this for
 CHICKEN 5.

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Ticket URL: <http://bugs.call-cc.org/ticket/1270>
CHICKEN Scheme <http://www.call-cc.org/>
CHICKEN Scheme is a compiler for the Scheme programming language.