Re: Fonts do not work with multiple profiles (fontconfig) and a proposed workaround

[Todor Kondić]

> Hi Todor,
>
> Indeed, this workaround does the trick.
> Here is my ~/.config/fontconfig/fonts.conf:
>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> <?xml version="1.0"?>
> <!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
> <!-- /etc/fonts/fonts.conf file to configure system font access -->
> <fontconfig>
> <dir>~/.guix-extra-profiles/emacs/emacs/share/fonts</dir>
> </fontconfig>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
>
> Packages' content is static, it is not modifier upon install, which is
> why the default etc/fonts/fonts.conf is pointing to constant locations.
>
> The solution to this bug, I believe, would be to add a post-install
> hook that generates the fonts.conf file with the right entries.
>
> Cheers!
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Pierre Neidhardt
> https://ambrevar.xyz/

Hi Pierre,

Yes, of course you are right. Packages are installed once and then reused in 
different profiles (AFAIK). I just did not give much thought to it at the 
moment. Supporting multiple profiles in a package can be a real pain, right? I 
mean, there is no magic bullet. In the case of fontconfig, we have the ability 
to modify the fonts.conf in order to add more font paths. As for other 
programs, there is usually a way, but it is not universal.

Of course, the hammer solution would be to shove a package going into a 
different profile into a different store entry (under assumption that at the 
build-time the package takes -p option as the default). Perhaps something like 
that could be offered as an option to users? Maybe this is even possible now? I 
have not done any research on it.

On the other hand, I have not seen any real "official" endorsement of 
multi-profile setups by Guix as a project :) .

Cheers,

T