Allow overriding config and cache dir by env var

[savente93]

Howdy folks. I wanted to add the ability to have my helix config behind a symlink for myself, then I saw the TODOs and figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone.

I would have added tests, but helix-loader doesn't seem to have any and I wasn't quite sure how to hook it into the current framework. It's a very small change so I think it's okay, but if anyone would like to see them added and is willing to help me for a few minutes I'm happy to add them.

If there's any additional requirements I wasn't aware of, please let me know.

cheers 👋

[archseer]

Couldn't you just set the XDG_CONFIG_HOME and XDG_CACHE_HOME variables?

[savente93]

I'm not familiar with those variables, though I believe you if you say Helix would obey them. I did look them up though and from what I understand that would mean that all applications would obey that which at least in my case is not what I want.

[the-mikedavis]

Only if you set those variables globally. You can use them just for the helix command

XDG_CACHE_HOME=$HOME/tmp hx

or create a wrapper script for Helix that sets them somewhere custom:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
XDG_CACHE_HOME=/some/custom/cache/dir
/path/to/actual/binary/for/hx

Some packagers like nixpkgs use that strategy to adjust environment variables used by a package without polluting global environment variables

[savente93]

okay that makes sense. Do you want me to close the PR? I don't really mind, but there were TODOs in the code about this so I don't know if someone else wanted this for some other reason? I still think this is a bit of a nicer solution, but I understand if you'd rather not add the extra code.

[the-mikedavis]

Yeah I think this is not necessary. We also have the CLI flags for specifying the config and log files which I think would work as an alternative to the XDG environment variables too.

[linsui]

I want this feature. :) It's much easier to set a env var than to add a wrapper.

[linsui]

A problem mentioned in the matrix is that changing the XDG variables can affect programs invoked by helix, e.g. lsp.