The reason (or at least, a reason) why you are seeing those warnings, is that stuff from autoloaded modules can be macros, so they might be needed during macro expansion (other reason is perhaps for optimization, dunno).
I think the best solution is to modify Guile to do something like adding a #:autoload/no-macro-no-inlining (name to be bikeshed), to be able to tell Guile more explicitly what behaviour is desired. Since #:autoload already exists, it shouldn’t be too difficult, I think. Another option: --assume-autoload-no-macro compilation argument. >Is there a way to have a module as an optional dependency without any warnings? I guess you could by adding a directory to your library source code with ‘fake’ (i.e. (define proc-name #false) + #:declarative? #false) Guix modules and add it to GUILE_LOAD_PATH when compiling the module (in Makefile or equivalent). > For example, is there a way to convince the Guile that those specific > variables will be bound? How do people commonly approach this? They don’t (i.e. just deal with the warnings), or do something like ((module-ref (lookup-module '(guix something)) 'proc-name) arguments ...) (that’s not the actual procedure names). It’s a bit more work up-front, but I recommend doing something like the #:autoload/no-macro-no-inlining thingie instead. Depending on compatibility concerns or lack thereof, you might not be able to _use_ it directly, but eventually Guile X.Y.E isn’t new anymore. Best regards, Maxime Devos
