How to source a bash script in emacs' eshell

Question

I'm trying to use eshell inside emacs, so I don't have to switch between emacs and a terminal. When using bash, I have few bash scripts I usually source to export some env variables (in order to switch between different tool-versions and build-environments). Is it possible to somehow execute my scripts with bash, and put the exports (or some of them) in eshell.

Basically I'm trying to source a bash-script in eshell.

Is there a way to do something like that?

Answer 1

I think, I found a way. I've created a my-init.el script with this content:

  bash -c "source my-init.sh > /dev/null && env |                   \
           grep -E 'MY_ENV\=' |                                     \ 
           sed -e 's/\([^=]*\)=\(.*\)/(setenv \"\1\" \"\2\" \)/g'"  \
           > /tmp/my-init-env
  source /tmp/my-init-env

When sourced from within eshell, it will start a bash, source the my-init.sh there (thus setting the MY_ENV variable), and then call env to obtain MY_ENV, and convert it with sed to something like (setenv "MY_VAR" "value") which is than sourced in the original eshell.

Not beautiful, but it does the job!

Answer 2

This seems to be a common misunderstanding for some reason, but "source" does not mean "set a few variables"; it means (in the context of sh) "execute the commands in this file in the current context". Therefore, the answer to the question "can I source a bash file in a program that uses some other incompatible language?" is no.