Allow specification of adr-dir via env var about adr-tools HOT 8 OPEN

Sounds like a good idea. Not sure about precedence. I think for safety, it should be an error (or at least a highly visible warning) if the environment variable is set and the .adr-dir file exists.

This would also address the issues raised in #51.

from adr-tools.

Thinking about this some more. Yes, an ADR_DIR environment variable sounds like a good idea (although I worry about environment variable name clash... is the name used by any other program?)

The advantage of the .adr-dir file over the environment variable is that it can be checked into version control, while the environment variable is local to each user's workstation

Precedence-wise, therefore, the .adr-dir file MUST take precedence over the environment variable, otherwise setting the environment variable would stop adr-tools working with existing projects. For the same reason, if the default ADR directory (doc/adr) already exists, that also must take precedence over the environment.

from adr-tools.

Isn't this a bit backwards with expectations though? One often uses an ENV var to override what's checked in of the default state; it allows easy switching of behaviour at the cli without having to edit files, move directories, etc. I think it would make sense to issue either a warning or error if there is a conflict but I would think that the main utility would be having the ADR_DIR be the highest precedence.

from adr-tools.

I'm torn... I can see one way being error prone. And the other way being unusual (and therefore error prone in different ways).

A design goal is that all project config can be checked into version control. Maybe the conflict here is because an environment variable works against that goal.

from adr-tools.

Looking back at original use case reported in the issue, I think your first response makes the most sense - warn/puke if env var exists as well as .adr-dir and they don't match. Could also have a flag to suppress the warning/error.

If I had to guess, people will use it in an either-or sort of way - either have a checked in .adr-dir file, or use ENV vars to switch/specify based on their own custom setups. The appropriate documentation could even be written to suggest that users pick one way or the other, perhaps?

from adr-tools.

I think the rules should be the following pseudocode:

if ADR_DIR is set
    if .adr-exists and the contents is different than $ADR_DIR or the directory doc/adr exists and $ADR_DIR != "doc/adr" then
        fail
    else
        use $ADR_DIR
    end
else
    ... current behaviour
end

from adr-tools.

This can easily be implemented by adding logic to the _adr_dir script.

from adr-tools.

from adr-tools.