# Emacs literate config with Guix **URL:** \ **Category:** Emacs\ **Created:** [May 31, 2024, 4:20am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/emacs-literate-config-with-guix/728 "2024-05-31T04:20:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jaume](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/jaume/32/544_2.png) [@jaume](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/jaume)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2024, 4:20am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/emacs-literate-config-with-guix/728/1 "2024-05-31T04:20:18Z")
Hi! May I ask if someone here can enlight me on what’s the right way to setup literate config with Emacs and Guix? Here’s my situation: I am not ready yet to use Guix as a system distro and I am using it as package manager. I use `guix home` to setup all my user configs and packages and suprisingly, Emacs is the one is giving me more headaches. To configure Emacs, I have a small `init.el` file that loads several `org-mode` files separated by topics: ```scheme 1 (require 'package) 2 (require 'warnings) 3 (require 'mu4e) 4 5 6 7 (org-babel-load-file "~/.config/emacs/general.org" t) 8 (org-babel-load-file "~/.config/emacs/org-mode.org" t) 9 (org-babel-load-file "~/.config/emacs/email.org" t) 10 (org-babel-load-file "~/.config/emacs/rss.org" t) 11 (org-babel-load-file "~/.config/emacs/music.org" t) 12 (org-babel-load-file "~/.config/emacs/dev.org" t) 13 (org-babel-load-file "~/.config/emacs/misc.org" t) 14 15 (setq custom-file (locate-user-emacs-file "custom-set-variables.el")) 16 (load custom-file 'noerror 'nomessage) ``` All these files need to be tangled when Emacs starts, so I’ve had to add them one by one on the [home-xdg-configuration-files-service-type](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/en/html_node/Essential-Home-Services.html). Adding the `emacs` directory recursively turns the whole `$HOME/.config/emacs` directory read-only and emacs fails to start when tangling them: ```scheme 136 ;; xdg-files 137 (simple-service 'xdg-config-files home-xdg-configuration-files-service-type 138 `(("emacs/init.el" ,(local-file "/home/jaume/src/me/dotfiles/emacs/init.el")) 139 ("emacs/general.org" ,(local-file "/home/jaume/src/me/dotfiles/emacs/general.org")) 140 ("emacs/org-mode.org" ,(local-file "/home/jaume/src/me/dotfiles/emacs/org-mode.org")) 141 ("emacs/email.org" ,(local-file "/home/jaume/src/me/dotfiles/emacs/email.org")) 142 ("emacs/rss.org" ,(local-file "/home/jaume/src/me/dotfiles/emacs/rss.org")) 143 ("emacs/music.org" ,(local-file "/home/jaume/src/me/dotfiles/emacs/music.org")) 144 ("emacs/dev.org" ,(local-file "/home/jaume/src/me/dotfiles/emacs/dev.org")) 145 ("emacs/misc.org" ,(local-file "/home/jaume/src/me/dotfiles/emacs/misc.org")) 146 ("emacs/authinfo.gpg" ,(local-file "/home/jaume/src/me/dotfiles/emacs/authinfo.gpg")) ``` (I know I have to find a better way to refer source files rather than use the whole path…) The problem I have now is that the files get tangled and emacs starts correctly… the first time. Everytime I change my Emacs config and run `guix home reconfigure` I need to delete all the tangled `el` files previously for the changes to take effect. Otherwise emacs seems happy with the previous ones and doesn’t ‘retangle’ them. Maybe because `org-files` are actually links and doesn’t detect the change? IDK. How do you people do it? What I am doing wrong on my setup? Thanks in advance! ---
**Author:** ![thanosapollo](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/thanosapollo/32/313_2.png) [@thanosapollo](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/thanosapollo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2024, 7:43am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/emacs-literate-config-with-guix/728/2 "2024-06-01T07:43:38Z")
Not sure exactly why the structure is this way, but you probably could use something like this to clean it up: ```auto (let ((org-files (directory-files "~/dotfiles/emacs" t "\\.org\\'"))) (cl-loop for file in org-files do (org-babel-load-file file))) ``` I don’t think there is a reason to symlink your org-files as you do now with guix home, but one option would be something like this: ```auto (service home-dotfiles-service-type (home-dotfiles-configuration (directories '("/home/jaume/src/me/dotfiles")) (excluded '(".*~" ".*\\.swp" "\\.git" "\\.gitignore")) (layout 'plain))) ``` to symlink all files in your dotfiles directory. At least if I understood your issue correctly. Hope this helps! ---
**Author:** ![jaume](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/jaume/32/544_2.png) [@jaume](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/jaume)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2024, 3:27pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/emacs-literate-config-with-guix/728/3 "2024-06-01T15:27:44Z")
Thanks a lot for the tips @thanosapollo ! Now my guix and emacs config files look much cleaner! I never dared to try the `home-dotfiles-service-type` but definitely it is worth the change. However. I still have the same problem: `org` files don’t get tangled into `el` files when emacs starts and even if I change my `org` files, I still start emacs with old configs. For instance, note the `el` file is one hour older than the `org` file: ```auto -rw-r--r-- 1 jaume jaume 402 Jun 1 16:29 music.el lrwxrwxrwx 1 jaume jaume 81 Jun 1 17:20 music.org -> /gnu/store/h41bhagak5ghkqam80rpxsz6qznnpril-home-dotfiles--config-emacs-music-org ``` I never experienced this behaviour before moving to a guix-managed home config… ---
**Author:** ![thanosapollo](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/thanosapollo/32/313_2.png) [@thanosapollo](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/thanosapollo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2024, 4:07pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/emacs-literate-config-with-guix/728/4 "2024-06-01T16:07:42Z")
I’m not exactly sure what you are trying to do, since I haven’t really used a literate configuration in a while, but each time you run `guix home reconfigure` you are creating a new _generation_ of dotfiles, to which you can rollback to. If you make any changes you should run `guix home reconfigure` to apply them & generate the new files. ---
**Author:** ![jaume](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/jaume/32/544_2.png) [@jaume](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/jaume)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2024, 4:46am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/emacs-literate-config-with-guix/728/5 "2024-06-02T04:46:20Z")
Hi @thanosapollo . Yes, I run `guix home reconfigure` to reapply the changes. Literate config, via `babel`, ‘tangles’ all the `org` code blocks in the same `org` file into a single `el` file. The `el` file is the actual loaded file in `emacs`. So the configuration loop I am seeking is: 1. Modify the emacs `org` files in my `~/src/me/dotfiles` repo directory. 2. Run `guix home reconfigure` to build a new generation that will symlink the `org` files into the `~/.config/emacs` directory. 3. Run `emacs`. → This step is the one that generates the new `el` files, before loading them and apply the new config. The last step is the one it fails. It doesn’t “re-tangle” them, it loads previous `el` files. Maybe my structure is wrong, maybe the whole configuration loop is stupid… IDK 🤷 ---
**Author:** ![wxie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ee59a6/32.png) [@wxie](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/wxie)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2024, 11:55am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/emacs-literate-config-with-guix/728/6 "2024-06-03T11:55:48Z")
You can do emacs config using the below org-files method to make it an org file for better looking. For Guix config, I am not aware of any ready to use solution. However, it should not be hard to achieve because what you really need is to output org-scheme-block to guile file for guix. ---
**Author:** ![thanosapollo](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/thanosapollo/32/313_2.png) [@thanosapollo](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/thanosapollo)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 2:58pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/emacs-literate-config-with-guix/728/7 "2024-06-06T14:58:43Z")
Hmm… Maybe use something like auto-tangle to create `.el` files or directly tangle the contents of the files into your `init.el` & exclude `*.org` from `home-dotfiles-configuration`? I personally just have a `init.el` file for my emacs config, which `imenu` makes it quite easy to navigate ---
**Author:** ![jaume](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/jaume/32/544_2.png) [@jaume](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/jaume)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2024, 4:31am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/emacs-literate-config-with-guix/728/8 "2024-06-09T04:31:14Z")
I’ve ended up doing what you suggest (have a single `init.el`) and got rid of my literate config. At the end, literate config doesn’t bring any better behaviour. I’ll probably split it again in different `.el` files because my current `init.el` file is too long for my taste… or fight again with literate config, but now I prefer to focus in other battles in my Guix journey. Thanks for your help, @thanosapollo and @wxie !