microsoft/Terminal

Consider adding a WT_PROFILE env var pointing to settings file

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#4,566 opened on Feb 13, 2020

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Area-SettingsHelp WantedIssue-FeatureProduct-Terminal

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Description

If the settings UI is not planned until after 1.0, then I strongly recommend adding an environment variable with the path to the json settings file, so it can be edited with the editor of choice (vi, notepad, nano, emacs, whatever) from within the shell of choice without burning brain calories trying to find it buried in AppData. Also: Relying on the GUI menu is, well, unreliable, due to there being no guarantee of a valid file association for json files.

We've already got WT_SESSION env var -- something like WT_PROFILE would be useful.

Then from within cmd or powershell, I can easily edit settings with my preferred editor, or interactively using $settings = gc $env:WT_PROFILE | convertto-json and flipping settings on the object model directly before saving it back out.

Contributor guide

Research direction
Locate the Settings class and how it loads the file path. Add a check for the WT PROFILE environment variable and use it if present, otherwise fall back to default path. Update documentation and consider adding tests.
Tech stack
cpp
Domain
cli
Issue type
Feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
C++Git
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
70