choco.config Edits Do Not Persist for Some Configurations

[SyrianBallaS]

This is with the latest version of chocolatey (0.10.1)

What You Are Seeing?

I did not test them all but there's one setting and one feature that automatically get overwritten. These are "commandExecutionTimeoutSeconds" and "allowEmptyChecksumsSecure".

What is Expected?

I'm expecting that the values I set persist. Sometimes the execution timeout is too low and I need it to be higher (2 hours/7200 seconds). I don't want to automatically allow files with empty checksum so I set it to false.

How Did You Get This To Happen? (Steps to Reproduce)

So I tried two ways for each, by command and by GUI.

"commandExecutionTimeoutSeconds"

By command for :

• choco config --execution-timeout=7200; then I tried
• choco config --timeout 7200
• The default timeout didn't change

By GUI:

Opened choco.config with Notepad++ as Admin and changed the value and saved.

Differences:

<add key="commandExecutionTimeoutSeconds" value="2700" description="Default timeout for command execution." />
<add key="commandExecutionTimeoutSeconds" value="7200" description="Default timeout for command execution." />

Workaround:

Use any text editor as Admin.

I noticed to workaround it you have to change this instead
<commandExecutionTimeoutSeconds>0</commandExecutionTimeoutSeconds>
<commandExecutionTimeoutSeconds>value</commandExecutionTimeoutSeconds>

I also noticed that the value entered above becomes like an "upperbound" for the execution timeout, if it's zero it won't change no matter what. What I mean is that if you but anything higher in the config section but can be lower, it will be the the value above the config section. This might be a bug.

Changing it by command will still not work since it's not "configurable" by command (from my observations).

"allowEmptyChecksumsSecure"

Changing by command works

By GUI:

• Open choco.config
• Change the value of enabled from true to false

Differences:

<feature name="allowEmptyChecksums" enabled="**true**" setExplicitly="false" description="Allow packages to have empty/missing checksums for downloaded resources from non-secure locations (HTTP, FTP). Enabling is not recommended if using sources that download resources from the internet. Available in 0.10.0+." />
<feature name="allowEmptyChecksums" enabled="**false**" setExplicitly="false" description="Allow packages to have empty/missing checksums for downloaded resources from non-secure locations (HTTP, FTP). Enabling is not recommended if using sources that download resources from the internet. Available in 0.10.0+." />
`

Log

I'm almost certain this is a bug because when using -dv (--debug --verbose), it acknowledges the execution timeout value to be set. Refer to Workaround to see how I got commandExecutionTimeoutSeconds to be 3600. It will say 2700 if the value in "Workaround" is 0. Putting important stuff in bold.

command: choco config --execution-timeout=3000 --verbose --debug

2016-09-21 13:37:28,122 [DEBUG] - Configured chocolatey.infrastructure.logging.log4net.config.xml from assembly choco, Version=0.10.1.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=79d02ea9cad655eb
2016-09-21 13:37:28,122 [DEBUG] - Configured chocolatey.infrastructure.logging.log4net.config.xml from assembly choco, Version=0.10.1.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=79d02ea9cad655eb
2016-09-21 13:37:28,146 [DEBUG] - XmlConfiguration is now operational
2016-09-21 13:37:28,421 [DEBUG] - Attempting to delete file "C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\config\chocolatey.config.update".
2016-09-21 13:37:28,427 [INFO ] - ============================================================
2016-09-21 13:37:28,431 [INFO ] - Chocolatey v0.10.1
2016-09-21 13:37:28,443 [DEBUG] - Chocolatey is running on Windows v 10.0.14393.0
2016-09-21 13:37:28,445 [DEBUG] - Attempting to delete file "C:/ProgramData/chocolatey/choco.exe.old".
2016-09-21 13:37:28,447 [DEBUG] - Attempting to delete file "C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\choco.exe.old".
2016-09-21 13:37:28,458 [DEBUG] - Command line not shown - sensitive arguments may have been passed.
2016-09-21 13:37:28,512 [DEBUG] - RemovePendingPackagesTask is now ready and waiting for PreRunMessage.
2016-09-21 13:37:28,521 [DEBUG] - Sending message 'PreRunMessage' out if there are subscribers...
2016-09-21 13:37:28,531 [DEBUG] - [Pending] Removing all pending packages that should not be considered installed...
2016-09-21 13:37:28,594 [DEBUG] - The source '' evaluated to a 'normal' source type
2016-09-21 13:37:28,596 [DEBUG] -
NOTE: Hiding sensitive configuration data! Please double and triple
check to be sure no sensitive data is shown, especially if copying
output to a gist for review.
2016-09-21 13:37:28,606 [DEBUG] - Configuration: CommandName='config'|
CacheLocation='C:\Users\Samer\AppData\Local\Temp\chocolatey'|
ContainsLegacyPackageInstalls='True'|
CommandExecutionTimeoutSeconds='3000'|WebRequestTimeoutSeconds='60'|
SourceType='normal'|Debug='True'|Verbose='True'|Force='False'|
Noop='False'|HelpRequested='False'|RegularOutput='True'|
QuietOutput='False'|PromptForConfirmation='False'|
AcceptLicense='False'|
AllowUnofficialBuild='False'|AllVersions='False'|
SkipPackageInstallProvider='False'|Prerelease='False'|ForceX86='False'|
OverrideArguments='False'|NotSilent='False'|
ApplyPackageParametersToDependencies='False'|
ApplyInstallArgumentsToDependencies='False'|IgnoreDependencies='False'|
AllowMultipleVersions='False'|AllowDowngrade='False'|
ForceDependencies='False'|Information.PlatformType='Windows'|
Information.PlatformVersion='10.0.14393.0'|
Information.PlatformName='Windows'|
Information.ChocolateyVersion='0.10.1.0'|
Information.ChocolateyProductVersion='0.10.1'|
Information.FullName='choco, Version=0.10.1.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=79d02ea9cad655eb'|

Information.Is64Bit='True'|Information.IsInteractive='True'|
Information.IsUserAdministrator='True'|
Information.IsProcessElevated='True'|
Information.IsLicensedVersion='False'|Features.AutoUninstaller='True'|
Features.ChecksumFiles='True'|Features.AllowEmptyChecksums='False'|
Features.AllowEmptyChecksumsSecure='False'|
Features.FailOnAutoUninstaller='True'|
Features.FailOnStandardError='True'|Features.UsePowerShellHost='True'|
Features.LogEnvironmentValues='True'|Features.VirusCheck='False'|
Features.FailOnInvalidOrMissingLicense='False'|
Features.IgnoreInvalidOptionsSwitches='True'|
Features.UsePackageExitCodes='True'|
Features.UseFipsCompliantChecksums='False'|
ListCommand.LocalOnly='False'|
ListCommand.IncludeRegistryPrograms='False'|ListCommand.PageSize='25'|
ListCommand.Exact='False'|ListCommand.ByIdOnly='False'|
ListCommand.IdStartsWith='False'|ListCommand.OrderByPopularity='False'|
ListCommand.ApprovedOnly='False'|
ListCommand.DownloadCacheAvailable='False'|
ListCommand.NotBroken='False'|UpgradeCommand.FailOnUnfound='False'|
UpgradeCommand.FailOnNotInstalled='False'|
UpgradeCommand.NotifyOnlyAvailableUpgrades='False'|
NewCommand.AutomaticPackage='False'|
NewCommand.UseOriginalTemplate='False'|SourceCommand.Command='unknown'|
SourceCommand.Priority='0'|FeatureCommand.Command='unknown'|
ConfigCommand.Command='list'|PinCommand.Command='unknown'|
2016-09-21 13:37:28,618 [DEBUG] - _ Chocolatey:ChocolateyConfigCommand - Normal Run Mode _
2016-09-21 13:37:28,622 [INFO ] - Settings
2016-09-21 13:37:28,625 [INFO ] - cacheLocation = | Cache location if not TEMP folder.
2016-09-21 13:37:28,627 [INFO ] - containsLegacyPackageInstalls = true | Install has packages installed prior to 0.9.9 series.
2016-09-21 13:37:28,628 [INFO ] - commandExecutionTimeoutSeconds = 3600 | Default timeout for command execution.
2016-09-21 13:37:28,630 [INFO ] - proxy = | Explicit proxy location.
2016-09-21 13:37:28,631 [INFO ] - proxyUser = | Optional proxy user.
2016-09-21 13:37:28,634 [INFO ] - proxyPassword = | Optional proxy password. Encrypted.
2016-09-21 13:37:28,636 [INFO ] - webRequestTimeoutSeconds = 60 | Default timeout for web requests. Available in 0.9.10+.

[ferventcoder]

Just out of curiosity, did you review the help menu at all for config?

choco config -? - you can also go to https://chocolatey.org/docs/commands-config

[ferventcoder]

This looks like an education thing for you likely.

We even have a short animated gif showing you how to interact with configuration on that page:

[ferventcoder]

Long story short, when setting config, you need to pass the commands in appropriately, which is

choco config set name value OR choco config set --name name --value value

The name of a configuration value never starts with --.

HTH.

[ferventcoder]

More information - you are setting an option, which only applies during that run.

[alex3305]

I am stuck at the same issue, executing the following commands, will yield the default value:

PS> choco config set commandExecutionTimeoutSeconds 7200
PS> choco config get commandExecutionTimeoutSeconds
Chocolatey v0.10.3
2700

[ferventcoder]

@alex3305 that was a pretty obtuse bug, but you found it!

[ferventcoder]

We will change this to a duplicate of #1059

[ferventcoder]

"allowEmptyChecksumsSecure"

Just a note that there is a setting that is setExplicitly - if you don't make that change, the configuration will set it back to the default.

[ferventcoder]

See #1059 (comment) for why and the workaround.