bug: run asdf plugin add nodejs The file will be created in the current folder, not the system-level ~/

[wanghaolyj]

Describe the Bug

File created in wrong folder

Steps to Reproduce

none

Expected Behaviour

none

Actual Behaviour

none

Environment

OS:
Darwin wanghaodeMac-mini.local 24.3.0 Darwin Kernel Version 24.3.0: Thu Jan  2 20:22:58 PST 2025; root:xnu-11215.81.4~3/RELEASE_ARM64_T8132 arm64

SHELL:
zsh 5.9 (arm64-apple-darwin24.0)

BASH VERSION:
3.2.57(1)-release

ASDF VERSION:
0.16.4

ASDF INTERNAL VARIABLES:
ASDF_DEFAULT_TOOL_VERSIONS_FILENAME=.tool-versions
ASDF_DATA_DIR=~/.asdf
ASDF_CONFIG_FILE=/Users/wanghao/.asdfrc

ASDF INSTALLED PLUGINS:
error loading plugin list: unable to open plugin Git repository: repository does not exist%

asdf plugins affected (if relevant)

No response

[andrecloutier]

This sounds extremely strange... The fact that the ~ is printing out as ~ and not expanding to your home directory is also strange. Are you setting ASDF_DATA_DIR=~/.asdf? Perhaps try ASDF_DATA_DIR=/Users/wanghao/.asdf ?

[andrecloutier]

Ok I think I see what's going on here. In short, explicitly setting '~' doesn't result in the HOME dir being used. Using "~" would make the shell do the expansion to the HOME dir.

➜  ~ ASDF_DATA_DIR='~/.asdf' asdf info
OS:
Darwin andre-F4V5VFNMXJ 24.2.0 Darwin Kernel Version 24.2.0: Fri Dec  6 19:02:41 PST 2024; root:xnu-11215.61.5~2/RELEASE_ARM64_T6030 arm64

SHELL:
zsh 5.9 (arm64-apple-darwin24.0)

BASH VERSION:
3.2.57(1)-release

ASDF VERSION:
0.16.5

ASDF INTERNAL VARIABLES:
ASDF_DEFAULT_TOOL_VERSIONS_FILENAME=.tool-versions
ASDF_DATA_DIR=~/.asdf
ASDF_CONFIG_FILE=/Users/andre/.asdfrc

ASDF INSTALLED PLUGINS:

(Note missing plugins and the DATA_DIR)

➜  testdir ASDF_DATA_DIR='~/.asdf' asdf plugin add nodejs
Successfully added nodejs

➜  testdir ls
~

➜  testdir ls -lah \~
total 0
drwxr-xr-x@ 3 andre  staff    96B  4 Mar 14:20 .
drwxr-xr-x@ 3 andre  staff    96B  4 Mar 14:20 ..
drwxr-xr-x@ 5 andre  staff   160B  4 Mar 14:20 .asdf

[Stratus3D]

Thanks for pointing that out @andrecloutier. This is not a bug with asdf itself. I also don't see the docs ever explicitly recommending ASDF_DATA_DIR='~/.asdf', all examples in the docs should be using $HOME. I'm going to close this as I don't think there is anything we need to change here.

@wanghaolyj if you have any other issues or either of you see something that could be improved in the docs please let me know.

[andrecloutier]

@Stratus3D I'm not so sure.. I think my description was inaccurate. It seems to be an issue even if you use a double quite (See below). I also spotted this in info reports in issues like the one in #1935 . This seems like a painful foot gun to have. I'd be happy to make a PR to support this. Doesn't seem that hard to support.

➜  testdir2 ASDF_DATA_DIR="~/.asdf" asdf info
OS:
Darwin andre-F4V5VFNMXJ 24.2.0 Darwin Kernel Version 24.2.0: Fri Dec  6 19:02:41 PST 2024; root:xnu-11215.61.5~2/RELEASE_ARM64_T6030 arm64

SHELL:
zsh 5.9 (arm64-apple-darwin24.0)

BASH VERSION:
3.2.57(1)-release

ASDF VERSION:
0.16.5

ASDF INTERNAL VARIABLES:
ASDF_DEFAULT_TOOL_VERSIONS_FILENAME=.tool-versions
ASDF_DATA_DIR=~/.asdf
ASDF_CONFIG_FILE=/Users/andre/.asdfrc

ASDF INSTALLED PLUGINS:
➜  testdir2 ASDF_DATA_DIR="~/.asdf" asdf plugin add nodejs
Successfully added nodejs
➜  testdir2 ls -lah
total 0
drwxr-xr-x@   3 andre  staff    96B  4 Mar 20:40 .
drwxr-x---+ 128 andre  staff   4.0K  4 Mar 20:39 ..
drwxr-xr-x@   3 andre  staff    96B  4 Mar 20:40 ~