Can your window manager choices affect your Emacs setup? Is adding another package always the right solution? What if the cleanest config is the one that solves root issues?

I recently revamped my Emacs setup. One package I hadn’t added yet was:

(use-package exec-path-from-shell
  :config (exec-path-from-shell-initialize))

But something interesting happened. Sometimes eglot would find the language server without this package, and sometimes it wouldn’t. The culprit? My window manager setup.

Starting Emacs from rofi in my i3 window manager didn’t work consistently because i3 uses /bin/sh and its PATH, while I use bash. This PATH discrepancy was the root of my problems.

I tried various solutions:

1. A simple rofi script:

#!/bin/bash
rofi -theme ~/.config/rofi/onedark.rasi -show run 

1. Directly in i3 config:

bindsym $mod+d			exec bash -c "rofi -theme ~/.config/rofi/onedark.rasi -show run"

1. Sourcing .bashrc:

#!/bin/bash
. ~/.bashrc
rofi -theme ~/.config/rofi/onedark.rasi -show run 

Even changing #!/bin/bash to #!/usr/bin/env bash didn’t help.

The Solution

Finally, this script cracked the code:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"  # This loads nvm
rofi -theme ~/.config/rofi/onedark.rasi -show run 

Suddenly, eglot could find the language server consistently.

This adventure taught me a valuable lesson: Emacs packages, like npm packages, can often be workarounds for underlying issues. The cleanest config isn’t always the one with the most packages, but the one that addresses root causes.

As I continue to refine my setup, I’m committed to only adding what’s necessary. It’s not just about a leaner config - it’s about understanding and optimizing my entire development environment.

However, the mystery isn’t fully solved. I still need to figure out why the other solutions didn’t work. Otherwise, I might end up adding PATH changes to this file each time Emacs needs them - a solution that feels more like a bandaid than a cure.

Are you solving problems in your editor, or just hiding them behind packages? Is your Emacs truly configured, or just patched?

Stay tuned as I continue to unravel this PATH puzzle and optimize my Emacs workflow!