Guix as an Emacs package manager

OldSoul · May 9, 2026, 3:46pm

Hey everyone!

I’ve been getting into Linux and Emacs over the past two months and am moving operating systems from Arch to Guix. One thing I have noticed is that it’s possible to use Guix as your Emacs package manager in lieu of something like Melpa or Elpaca. What exactly is the utility in this? Do any of y’all use this feature, or do y’all just find it easier to use more traditional package managers for Emacs. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts as you all have far more experience than I do in this area.

aionfork · May 9, 2026, 11:23pm

It can be confusing. It’s fantastic (native comp is taken care of), but mixing emacs packages from both Guix and from straight.el can be problematic.

I get emacs core from Guix and then mixin doom on top of that.

github.com/dcunited001/ellipsis

.doom.d/Makefile

master

MKPATH       := $(abspath $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST)))
MKPATHREAL   := $(realpath $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST)))
MKDIR        := $(abspath $(dir $(MKPATH)))
MKPARENT     := $(abspath $(dir $(MKDIR)))
SHELL=/bin/sh

# - MAKEFILE_LIST gets appended on `include`
# - .VARIABLES includes all variable names: e.g. echo $(.VARIABLES)
# - `make` searches .INCLUDE_DIRS for Makefiles
# - .DEFAULT_GOAL sets default goal.
# - realpath: resolve symlinks in paths
# - value: access value without symbolic expansion
# - `make -n`: dry run
# - use `@echo echo` to avoid "echo echo echo \n echo echo"
# - `make -L`: consider the newest timestamp in a chain of symlinks (instead of the
#   final referent's timestamp)

# .PHONY will override w/o the following
#
# .DEFAULT_GOAL := all

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Guix as an Emacs package manager

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