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# Make Emacs temp buffers inherit buffer-local environment variables

Environment variables in Emacs can be set buffer-locally, like many
Emacs preferences, which allows users to have different buffer-local
paths for executables in different projects, specified by a
`.dir-locals.el` file or via a `direnv` integration like
[envrc](https://github.com/purcell/envrc).

However, there's a fairly common pitfall when Emacs libraries run
background processes on behalf of a user: many such libraries run
processes in temporary buffers that do not inherit the calling
buffer's environment. This can result in executables not being found,
or the wrong versions of executables being picked up.

An example is the Emacs built-in command
`shell-command-to-string`. Whatever buffer-local `process-environment`
(or `exec-path`) the user has set, that command will always use the
Emacs-wide default. This is *specified* behaviour, but not *expected*
or *helpful*.

`inheritenv` provides a couple of tools for dealing with this
issue:

1. Library authors can wrap code that plans to execute processes in
   temporary buffers with the `inheritenv` macro.
2. Users can modify commands like `shell-command-to-string` using the
   `inheritenv-add-advice` macro.

## Installation

### Manual

Ensure `inheritenv.el` is in a directory on your load-path, and add
the following to your `~/.emacs` or `~/.emacs.d/init.el`:

```elisp
(require 'inheritenv)
```

### MELPA

If you're an Emacs 24 user or you have a recent version of
`package.el` you can install `inheritenv` from the
[MELPA](http://melpa.org) repository. The version of
`inheritenv` there will always be up-to-date.

## About

Author: Steve Purcell <steve at sanityinc dot com>

Homepage: https://github.com/purcell/inheritenv

[💝 Support this project and my other Open Source work](https://www.patreon.com/sanityinc)

[💼 LinkedIn profile](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/stevepurcell)

[✍ sanityinc.com](https://www.sanityinc.com/)

[🐦 @sanityinc](https://twitter.com/sanityinc)
