Create a command to make it easy to access the configuration file

[dstufft]

@glyph said in #1733

$ emacs `pip conf`
$ pip conf edit # runs $EDITOR
$ pip conf set foo=bar

I like this idea and I think we should add it.

[glyph]

All 3? :)

[dstufft]

Dunno! I just didn't want to forget it :] Perhaps all 3, perhaps only one of them.

[pfmoore]

Sorry, misclick

[pradyunsg]

(edited twice; the actual command is a little different from this)

Here's a proposal:

$ pip config --help

Usage:
    pip config --list
    pip config --edit

    pip config --set name value
    pip config --unset name

Config Options:
  -l, --list        List all values set in the configuration
  -e, --edit        Open the configuration file in $EDITOR
  -s, --show name   Show the value set for name in the configuration
  --set name value  Set name=value in the configuration
  --unset name      Unset name in the configuration
  --global          Make changes in the global configuration file instead of 
                    the user level configuration file

It provides all three behaviours from OP in a manner that is consistent with our current commands. It also provides, what I think is, all of the required operations for the user in a sensible easy-to-understand manner.

[pradyunsg]

If the proposal looks fine, I'll go ahead and make a PR for this...

[pfmoore]

Windows perspective - $EDITOR is typically not used. We should default not notepad on Windows, and allow easy configuration of a better alternative (in pip.ini).

We could leverage the standard option support and allow pip config --edit --editor gvim.exe (then people cal set PIP_EDITOR or set a value in [config]editor. But that may be overkill.

[pradyunsg]

Windows perspective - $EDITOR is typically not used.

True. For Windows, just open it in whatever is their default text editor should suffice. I don't mind the some option based support for changing the editor.

[pradyunsg]

Offshoot idea: #3809.

[pfmoore]

For Windows, just open it in whatever is their default text editor should suffice.

But that's the point - there is no concept of a "default text editor". If you mean the editor associated with ".txt" files, that's not always appropriate (as well as being way too hard to determine correctly). So we need an option in pip, to control the editor *pip uses (independent of system-level choices).

Ideally, Python would have an "open a file in the default text editor" function, much like it has an "open a webpage in a browser" function in the webbrowser module. But sadly, it doesn't.

[pradyunsg]

Ooh. Okay. In that case, it seems to me that providing an --editor option should suffice. It's not an overkill IMO.

[pradyunsg]

Update: #4192 refactors out the code for configuration. I'll follow up with the config command if that's accepted.

[pradyunsg]

I'm working on this.

[pradyunsg]

This can be closed. #4240 has merged. ^.^