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-rw-r--r--doc/guix.texi43
1 files changed, 42 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi
index 1d882afeca..cfb626c705 100644
--- a/doc/guix.texi
+++ b/doc/guix.texi
@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@ Installation
* Running the Test Suite:: Testing Guix.
* Setting Up the Daemon:: Preparing the build daemon's environment.
* Invoking guix-daemon:: Running the build daemon.
+* Running Guix Before It Is Installed:: Hacker tricks.
Setting Up the Daemon
@@ -252,6 +253,7 @@ instead, you want to install the complete GNU operating system,
* Running the Test Suite:: Testing Guix.
* Setting Up the Daemon:: Preparing the build daemon's environment.
* Invoking guix-daemon:: Running the build daemon.
+* Running Guix Before It Is Installed:: Hacker tricks.
@end menu
@node Binary Installation
@@ -830,6 +832,44 @@ useful in exceptional circumstances, such as if you need to run several
daemons on the same machine.
@end table
+@node Running Guix Before It Is Installed
+@section Running Guix Before It Is Installed
+
+If you are hacking Guix itself---which is a good idea!---you will find
+it useful to test the changes made in your local source tree checkout
+without actually installing them.
+
+To that end, all the command-line tools can be used even if you have not
+run @command{make install}. To do that, prefix each command with
+@command{./pre-inst-env} (the @file{pre-inst-env} script lives in the
+top build tree of Guix), as in:
+
+@example
+$ sudo ./pre-inst-env guix-daemon --build-users-group=guixbuild
+$ ./pre-inst-env guix build hello
+@end example
+
+@noindent
+Similarly, for a Guile session using the Guix modules:
+
+@example
+$ ./pre-inst-env guile -c '(use-modules (guix utils)) (pk (%current-system))'
+@end example
+
+The @command{pre-inst-env} script sets up all the environment variables
+necessary to support this, including @code{PATH} and
+@code{GUILE_LOAD_PATH}.
+
+If you are hacking Guix from Emacs using the wonderful Geiser
+(@pxref{Introduction,,, geiser, Geiser User Manual}), make sure to
+augment Guile's load path so that it finds source files from your
+checkout:
+
+@lisp
+;; Assuming the Guix checkout is in ~/src/guix.
+(add-to-list 'geiser-guile-load-path "~/src/guix")
+@end lisp
+
@c *********************************************************************
@node Package Management
@@ -6215,7 +6255,8 @@ creating packages. For more information on package definitions,
Once a package definition is in place, stored in a file in the Guix
source tree, it can be tested using the @command{guix build} command
(@pxref{Invoking guix build}). For example, assuming the new package is
-called @code{gnew}, you may run this command from the Guix build tree:
+called @code{gnew}, you may run this command from the Guix build tree
+(@pxref{Running Guix Before It Is Installed}):
@example
./pre-inst-env guix build gnew --keep-failed