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-rw-r--r--doc/guix.texi13
1 files changed, 11 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi
index bdba88e2e2..f73ce52c4c 100644
--- a/doc/guix.texi
+++ b/doc/guix.texi
@@ -3967,14 +3967,23 @@ object whose name is @code{emacs} is found. This package search
facility is implemented in the @code{(gnu packages)} module.
@cindex customization, of packages
+@cindex package module search path
Users can store package definitions in modules with different
names---e.g., @code{(my-packages emacs)}. These package definitions
will not be visible by default. Thus, users can invoke commands such as
@command{guix package} and @command{guix build} have to be used with the
@code{-e} option so that they know where to find the package, or use the
@code{-L} option of these commands to make those modules visible
-(@pxref{Invoking guix build, @code{--load-path}}). The latter makes it
-easy to customize the distribution.
+(@pxref{Invoking guix build, @code{--load-path}}), or define the
+@code{GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH} environment variable. This environment
+variable makes it easy to extend or customize the distribution and is
+honored by all the user interfaces.
+
+@defvr {Environment Variable} GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH
+This is a colon-separated list of directories to search for package
+modules. Directories listed in this variable take precedence over the
+distribution's own modules.
+@end defvr
The distribution is fully @dfn{bootstrapped} and @dfn{self-contained}:
each package is built based solely on other packages in the