New Setting for $PATH

[chrisgrieser]

Thanks to nil's fix, I finally got the plugin working to try out some stuff.

So I am trying to use markdownlint on the file, and everything works fine, but I do have to add stuff to PATH for basically every command that runs something that is installed, which is not only inconvenient, but also decreases the readability of your commands.

export PATH=/usr/local/bin/:/opt/homebrew/bin/:$PATH ; markdownlint --fix {{file_path:absolute}}

I propose to have a setting which paths to add to the PATH? 🙂

[Taitava]

Nice idea! 🙂

I think I would like to combine it with a more generic idea of implementing support for defining freely nameable environment variables: #23 (that discussion contains a bit old information about escaping variable values, but I think it has some pretty solid basic ideas).

Two things that would be needed so that it would work for your use-case:

• An ability to define environment variables that are used for all shell commands, not just on a per shell command basis, as designed in the abovementioned discussion.
• An ability to use the current value of the environment variable as part of the value. I.e. when defining $PATH, the purpose is not to overwrite it completely, but to append content there. Just like you have in your example:

export PATH=/usr/local/bin/:/opt/homebrew/bin/:$PATH

Maybe the syntax for defining an environment variable in SC could be about something like this:
/usr/local/bin/:/opt/homebrew/bin/:{{environment:PATH}} (this would be written in a UI where you would first give the environment variable name PATH).

Or just keep it simple?

Your original idea might be more simpler for a user to set up in the UI, as it would not require the user to think about including the old value of $PATH in the new value (this would be done automatically by SC).

I need to think about this and decide how to proceed.

Thank you! 🌞

[Taitava]

Start with a dedicated setting for $PATH

(#23 can be implemented later).

Some decisions:

• Three multiline textareas (one for each operating system, Linux, macOS, Windows, to support sharing vaults/settings between multiple devices).
• Each line of a textarea will hold one directory. SC will concatenate all lines into a single line, using : or ; as a separator. User can still put everything on one line if they want, they just need to use the correct separator themselves.
• The separator is determined automatically from which shell is used: : for Bash and the like, ; for PowerShell and CMD.
• Support {{variables}}. I don't know if it's really needed, but one could e.g. include the current note's folder into $PATH by using {{folder_path:absolute}}, or define a $PATH directory in a note's YAML frontmatter ({{yaml_value:custom_directory_to_add_to_path}}).
• Create a new variable {{environment:env_variable_name_here}}, that can be used to retrieve the current value of $PATH.

Add to the beginning or end of $PATH

Let's take a few examples of contents of an Add to $PATH textarea:

/first/path
{{environment:path}}
/second/path

In this case, /first/path is added before the existing paths in $PATH. It's good when wanting to override default programs, but may have some negative performance effects.

/second/path is appended after $PATH. I think this is the recommended way to add stuff to $PATH, as it won't affect performance, and most of the time there's no need to override current programs.

---

{{environment:path}}
/first/path
/second/path

Everything is appended to the end of $PATH.

---

/first/path
/second/path
{{environment:path}}

Everything is appended before $PATH.

---

/first/path
/second/path

If the current $PATH value is not present in the textarea, SC could notice it and append the new values at the end of $PATH.

[Taitava]

@chrisgrieser This just came to my mind, and I haven't tried it, but what happens if you put your $PATH additions to ~/.bashrc (assuming you are using Bash? I'm not sure if you are, but anyway)? Will it have an effect when executing commands via SC? Or is ~/.bashrc only used when opening up a normal terminal? This is interesting to me, and something I'll probably try myself sometime.

Edit 2022-04-30: Nevermind, it does not work.

[zcysxy]

+1 for this feature! Before it's fully supported, I think a simple solution for macOS is to add /usr/local/bin/ and /opt/homebrew/bin/ to the path on the plugin side. These are the brew installation path, and I think most macOS users use brew to manage command line tools. So this will cover most cases.

This just came to my mind, and I haven't tried it, but what happens if you put your $PATH additions to ~/.bashrc (assuming you are using Bash? I'm not sure if you are, but anyway)? Will it have an effect when executing commands via SC? Or is ~/.bashrc only used when opening up a normal terminal? This is interesting to me, and something I'll probably try myself sometime.

This doesn't work for me. But we can do

export PATH="/usr/local/bin:/opt/homebrew/bin/:$PATH" && source ~/.zshrc # && do_something_else

The above command also solves the nvm/node problem here #191. Since the node path is added dynamically in my ~/.zhsrc.

[Taitava]

+1 for this feature! Before it's fully supported, I think a simple solution for macOS is to add /usr/local/bin/ and /opt/homebrew/bin/ to the path on the plugin side. These are the brew installation path, and I think most macOS users use brew to manage command line tools. So this will cover most cases.

The $PATH settings is actually already implemented (issue #204), but not released yet. I just haven't updated this conversation. I think I'll add a comment about it below with some screenshot. It will be released in 0.13.0, so not in the next release (0.12.0) but after that. I'll probably make a beta test for 0.13.0 after the currently on-going beta test for 0.12.0 is finished.

This just came to my mind, and I haven't tried it, but what happens if you put your $PATH additions to ~/.bashrc (assuming you are using Bash? I'm not sure if you are, but anyway)? Will it have an effect when executing commands via SC? Or is ~/.bashrc only used when opening up a normal terminal? This is interesting to me, and something I'll probably try myself sometime.

This doesn't work for me.

Yea, I guess I noticed at some point it doesn't work 🙁. I guess Node.js's child_process does not use the .bashrc file (or any similar file) when executing shell commands.

But we can do

export PATH="/usr/local/bin:/opt/homebrew/bin/:$PATH" && source ~/.zshrc # && do_something_else

The above command also solves the nvm/node problem here #191. Since the node path is added dynamically in my ~/.zhsrc.

It's a good workaround until 0.13.0 is out. 🙂👍

[Taitava]

Implemented, waiting for a release OR a beta test (0.13.0)

The $PATH settings will be located in the Environments tab (renamed from Operating systems & shells), below Default shell settings.

This is a simple example adding just a couple of example directories mentioned by @zcysxy. There are three $PATH fields so that you can define different sets for macOS, Linux and Windows in case you happen to synchronise your Obsidian vault between different operating systems.

This example shows how you can decide whether to insert the additional directories before or after the current content of $PATH. {{!environment:PATH}} gives you the current content of $PATH. If {{!environment:PATH}} is not present in the textarea, then the textarea's content will be appended at the end of $PATH.

Edit 2022-05-02: {{!environment:PATH}} should contain the ! because special characters should not be escaped in PATH.

See what $PATH currently contains

In case you want to check what $PATH currently contains (without your additions), there's a (bit clumsy) modal that reveals it. The text lines are too long for the modal, but there's a horizontal scroll bar, so you should be able to see all of the content.

[Taitava]

Beta test

#228

[Taitava]

Released

@chrisgrieser please let me know if you have any comments. 🙂