diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'doc')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/guix.texi | 29 |
1 files changed, 21 insertions, 8 deletions
diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi index 7d0824784d..5b77c84b4a 100644 --- a/doc/guix.texi +++ b/doc/guix.texi @@ -1878,15 +1878,28 @@ running Emacs with the @option{--no-site-file} option (@pxref{Init File,,, emacs, The GNU Emacs Manual}). @quotation Note -Emacs can now compile packages natively. Under the default -configuration, this means that Emacs packages will now be -just-in-time (JIT) compiled as you use them, and the results -stored in a subdirectory of your @code{user-emacs-directory}. +Most Emacs variants are now capable of doing native compilation. +The approach taken by Guix Emacs however differs greatly +from the approach taken upstream. -Furthermore, the build system for Emacs packages transparently -supports native compilation, but note, that -@code{emacs-minimal}---the default Emacs for building -packages---has been configured without native compilation. +Upstream Emacs compiles packages just-in-time and typically places +shared object files in a special folder within your +@code{user-emacs-directory}. +These shared objects within said folder are organized in a +flat hierarchy, and their file names contain two hashes to +verify the original file name and contents of the source code. + +Guix Emacs on the other hand prefers to compile packages ahead-of-time. +Shared objects retain much of the original file name and no hashes +are added to verify the original file name or the contents of the file. +Crucially, this allows Guix Emacs and packages built against it +to be grafted (@pxref{Security Updates, grafts}), but at the same time, +Guix Emacs lacks the hash-based verification of source code baked +into upstream Emacs. As this naming schema is trivial to exploit, +we disable just-in-time compilation. + +Further note, that @code{emacs-minimal}---the default Emacs +for building packages---has been configured without native compilation. To natively compile your emacs packages ahead of time, use a transformation like @option{--with-input=emacs-minimal=emacs}. @end quotation |