Provide ensurepath with a check option or create an init command

[mrmeszaros]

How would this feature be useful?

Currently, pipx ensurepath does not tell me what changes will it make.
I would like to stay in control: see what changes it would make, and then decide if it's okay with me.

Describe the solution you'd like

• Add a --check or --dry-run option that checks for necessary changes and outputs them.

  > pipx ensurepath --dry-run
  # append lines to ~/.config/fish/config.fish
  fish_add_path ~/.local/bin
  # ... and other configs

Describe alternatives you've considered

• Add an init command that outputs the shell config changes - similarly to how pyenv does it:

  > pipx init --fish
  # Add this to your config.fish file if You haven't yet
  fish_add_path ~/.local/bin
  # ... other configs - similarly --zsh or --bash or --tcsh

Here is how pyenv does it:

> pyenv init
# Add pyenv executable to PATH by running
# the following interactively:

set -Ux PYENV_ROOT $HOME/.pyenv
set -U fish_user_paths $PYENV_ROOT/bin $fish_user_paths

# Load pyenv automatically by appending
# the following to ~/.config/fish/config.fish:

pyenv init - | source


# Restart your shell for the changes to take effect.

[uranusjr]

Or --dry-run

[dukecat0]

Currently it's impossible for pipx to show the content that will be added to the config, since that part of job is done by userpath. I think the only thing we can do here is to show what paths will be added to PATH.

[mrmeszaros]

Okay, did some digging:

• in fact pipx relies on the ofek/userpath library to change the PATH env variable
• the userpath library however does the deed using the ~/.config/fish/config.fish file - manually: set PATH ...-ing
  as can be read at shells.py lines 56-64

AFAIK, userpath does not check whether the path is already on the path - does pipx do the check? I could not find.

What does ensurepath actually do? It's quite cryptic to me.
Does it only add ~/.local/bin to the PATH - or does it do anything else?
If so:

• Could it check whether it already is (I hope it does).
• Could it have a verbose mode at least, to say what it is doing? I do not enjoy running mysterious commands.
• Could it add it's fish config to a ~/.config/fish/conf.d/pipx.fish? That would make unloading it's config much easier.

Sorry for the compounded question / comment, and thanks for Your effort!

[uranusjr]

https://github.com/pypa/pipx/blob/c3d8de92b1b6c5c6f637ff16f591598fcf98567a/src/pipx/commands/ensure_path.py

I don’t feel the implementation is that difficult to understand. What part is cryptic to you?

[mrmeszaros]

Thanks - I have read that file - and I think I get what it intends to do (correct me if I'm wrong):

• it adds (if necessary) two directories:
  • the ~/.local/bin dir or $PIPX_BIN_DIR if it is set.
  • the directory containing the pipx executable

Would it be then possible to add the option to check and log what PATHs need to be added?

Also, is it possible (if ensurepath cannot be changed) to add an init command that works like many other tools (pyenv, pyenv-virtualenv, rbenv, jenv) do?

These would make it possible to investigate what the tools does.

[gaborbernat]

PR welcome.

[mrmeszaros]

@gaborbernat I see that the project uses hatch.
I have installed the tool but was so far unable to create a virtual env where I could run the tests (and nox eg.)

I figured out hatch creates a default env at ~/Library/Application Support/hatch/env/virtual/pipx/iXL76-S_/pipx and that I can open a shell at it, but nox is not installed there.

Could You help out how could I run tests or how to set up the env for contributing?
Also - is there a preferred way to install my local version of pipx to try the new feature?
I would rather not install it globally and possibly break my system.

[Gitznik]

Hi @mrmeszaros, please refer to our contributing docs
Let me know if you have any further questions.