Re: Adding a subcommand "load-profile"

[zimoun]

Hi Ludo,

On Sun, 3 May 2020 at 22:31, Ludovic Courtès <address@hidden> wrote:

>   1. guix environment (but it’s slower)
>
>   2. sh
>      . /my/profile/etc/profile.sh
>      exit

Personally, time to time I use (thanks Pjotr):

   env -i $(which bash) --login --noprofile --norc
   . /my/profile/etc/profile
   exit

because 'sh' is roughly bare and typing /my/long/path/to/profile
without completion, history, move backward, etc. is not practical.

Note: it is written in the Cookbook. Bottom of [1].
[1] 
https://guix.gnu.org/cookbook/en/html_node/Basic-setup-with-manifests.html#Basic-setup-with-manifests


>   3. sh
>      eval `guix package -p /my/profile --search-paths`
>      exit
>
> Options #2 and #3 are more verbose, and less obvious to someone not
> familiar with the shell.
>
> Still, such commands are targeting shell users, which makes me wonder
> how far we should go.  It’s an honest question: I’m torn between the
> will to provide a simple CLI, and the need to avoid proliferation of
> commands all more or less equivalent.

Well, part of the subcommand "environment" could be done with "guix
package -p" and then #3 but it is more more (more!) convenient to have
a full subcommand: easy to use day-to-day and easy to explain, etc..

However, I am not in favour for adding another subcommands for only
the use case of loading a profile.  (Note that the point of Roel is
legitimate: minimize the burden of their users already typing "guixr
load-profile".)
>From my point of view, instead of a subcommand, it should be an
option: guix environment --load-profile or in short -P.

And if another subcommand is added, it should be the more ambitious
"profile manager", e.g., "guix profile", as it has been partly
discussed, for examples in threads starting there:

https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2019-10/msg00565.html
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2019-12/msg00358.html


Last, I prefer another subcommand (load-profile) than nothing.
Because it is requested since a long time.



All the best,
simon