I recently wrote a program to do some record-keeping for me. I found
myself hard-coding a bunch of different values into it. This didn't
seem right, so I made my first use of configparser.ConfigParser().
Created the configuration file and everything is working fine.

However, I wrote it based on the assumption that the program is
running in the directory where the config file is stored, and has
a specific name. I started having some second thoughts here.

I thought about putting the location of the configuration file in
the configuration file, but that seemed like a non-starter.[1]

Should I specify the location of the config file with a command-line
option, or is requiring the program to be executed in the directory
containing the configuration file considered acceptable practice?



[1] See Tegan Jovanka in _Castrovalva_ for more on this idea.
--
Michael F. Stemper
If it isn't running programs and it isn't fusing atoms, it's just bending space.

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"Michael F. Stemper" <michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote or quoted:

Should I specify the location of the config file with a command-line
option, or is requiring the program to be executed in the directory >containing the configuration file considered acceptable practice?

It was me who digged out this "platformdirs" "user_config_dir"
API using a source code search on my harddisk without any help.
But then I asked my buddy, the chatbot, to explain how to
use it, which I include here, followed by some more words
of my own at the end. Chatbot:

To use the platformdirs API - specifically the user_config_dir
function - to get the correct user configuration directory
for your application (cross-platform), follow these steps:

1. Install the platformdirs package: bash:

pip install platformdirs

2. Use user_config_dir in your Python code:

from platformdirs import user_config_dir

config_dir = user_config_dir(appname="YourAppName", appauthor="YourCompany") print(config_dir)

The name "appname" is the name of your application.

The name "appauthor" is usually your company or organization
name (optional, but recommended for Windows).

You can also specify "version", "roaming", and "ensure_exists"
as optional arguments.

This function returns the path to the appropriate user-specific
configuration directory for the running platform:

On macOS:

~/Library/Application Support/YourAppName

On Windows:

C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\YourCompany\YourAppName

On Linux:

~/.config/YourAppName

Example: Python:

config_dir = user_config_dir(appname="MyApp", appauthor="MyCompany") print(config_dir)
# Output will be platform-specific, e.g., /home/user/.config/MyApp on Linux

This ensures your app stores configuration files in the right
place on any OS.

(End of the chatbot's explanation, formatted for Usenet manually
and slightly edited by me - S.R.)

You also might think about:

- reading a CONFIG_PATH for you app for an environment
variable if set

- searching a sequence of locations for your config file
which might include the current directory and the
directories from other methods and using the first config
file found

- having an "installation" dialog: If your program can't
find its config file in any of the places it is looking
into, then it assumes it is run for the first time and
asks the user where (from the places in the preceding
paragraph) to store it, it will find it the next time
it does the activity from the preceding paragraph

- having an "uninstall" dialog: If your user chooses the
uninstall activity, the program will rename or delete
its config files



--- MBSE BBS v1.1.1 (Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: Stefan Ram (3:633/280.2@fidonet)

ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) wrote or quoted:

On Linux:
~/.config/YourAppName

But don't just build this path manually as the proper
code for Linux should follow the XDG convention. I hope
that the library does this correctly!

What I actually found on my harddisk was a "platformdirs"
package from "setuptools", which seems to know about XDG.
(I not sure whether the separated "platformdirs" from PyPI
is the same.)



--- MBSE BBS v1.1.1 (Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: Stefan Ram (3:633/280.2@fidonet)

"Michael F. Stemper" <michael.stemper@gmail.com> writes:

Should I specify the location of the config file with a command-line
option, or is requiring the program to be executed in the directory containing the configuration file considered acceptable practice?

You can also use an environment variable.

--- MBSE BBS v1.1.1 (Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (3:633/280.2@fidonet)

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ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) wrote or quoted:

- searching a sequence of locations for your config file

Coincidentally, I just read:

|When IDLE first starts, it attempts to read user
|configuration files in ~/.idlerc/ (~ is one's home
|directory).

, just as another example.



--- MBSE BBS v1.1.1 (Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: Stefan Ram (3:633/280.2@fidonet)

On 22/05/2025 20:59, Michael F. Stemper wrote:

I recently wrote a program to do some record-keeping for me. I found
myself hard-coding a bunch of different values into it. This didn't
seem right, so I made my first use of configparser.ConfigParser().
Created the configuration file and everything is working fine.

However, I wrote it based on the assumption that the program is
running in the directory where the config file is stored, and has
a specific name. I started having some second thoughts here.

I thought about putting the location of the configuration file in
the configuration file, but that seemed like a non-starter.[1]

Should I specify the location of the config file with a command-line
option, or is requiring the program to be executed in the directory >containing the configuration file considered acceptable practice?

[1] See Tegan Jovanka in _Castrovalva_ for more on this idea.

So, I use an environment variable because my config is shared between Python
and Java auto test frameworks. I think keeping the config adjacent to the
.py files is also workable because a Python program can know where it is:

from pathlib import Path

script_path = Path(__file__).resolve()
script_directory = script_path.parent

print(f"The script is located at: {script_path}")
print(f"The script is located in the directory: {script_directory}")


--
A PICKER OF UNCONSIDERED TRIFLES

--- MBSE BBS v1.1.1 (Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (3:633/280.2@fidonet)

On 22/05/2025 15.27, Stefan Ram wrote:

"Michael F. Stemper" <michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote or quoted:

Should I specify the location of the config file with a command-line
option, or is requiring the program to be executed in the directory
containing the configuration file considered acceptable practice?

It was me who digged out this "platformdirs" "user_config_dir"
API using a source code search on my harddisk without any help.
But then I asked my buddy, the chatbot, to explain how to
use it, which I include here, followed by some more words
of my own at the end. Chatbot:

[massive snip]

On Linux:

~/.config/YourAppName

[another one]


Wow, if that's the best practice, I'll settle for second-best!

Somebody who wished to remain anonymous contacted me via email and
suggested that I could have my cake and eat it, too. I am going
ahead with having a default location for the config file, as well
as a command-line option to specify a different file. Blindingly
obvious!

And the default will not be in the directory in which the program
is being run. Your post reminded me of the existence of $HOME/.config
which is obviously the right place for it.

Thanks for all of the suggestions.

--
Michael F. Stemper
I refuse to believe that a corporation is a person until Texas executes one.


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