Re: wrap-program

[Ludovic Courtès]

Andreas Enge <address@hidden> skribis:

> I am only now catching up with the discussion. So far, I do not understand
> why we need a wrapper. Would it not be enough to add the environment variables
> $XDG_DATA_DIRS etc. to the search paths of the programs, in the same way as
> perl or python modules incite the user to define the corresponding environment
> variables pointing to a subdirectory of .guix-profile?

There are several things to consider.  First, it’s better if things work
out of the box.

Second, sometimes, we may want to trade dynamicity for reproducibility
(and “referential transparency.”)  In the case of GTK+ plug-ins, if we
force GTK_EXE_PREFIX in a wrapper, then we make sure the application is
using the “right” plug-ins, at the cost of making the system more
static.  For schemas, having XDG_DATA_DIRS defined in a wrapper would
just make sure that the application actually works (otherwise it could
end up using the wrong schemas, I suppose.)

My 2¢,
Ludo’.