List configuration files

[xavfernandez]

What's the problem this feature will solve?
Easily identify possible configuration files and if they exist.

Describe the solution you'd like
Either as a new option of pip config or in pip debug, it would list the possible configuration files (global, site, user) and whether they actually exist

[pradyunsg]

pip config --files is the color I prefer for the bikeshed.

It probably makes sense to also include the final list of files, in pip debug.

[deveshks]

I would like to work on this issue @xavfernandez

I see that pip._internal.configuration. _load_config_files is where we load files, and the changes will include capturing this info and displaying to the user as part of pip config --files. Am I on the right track here?

[pradyunsg]

We'd want to expose _iter_config_files as a public attribute of Configuration (

pip/src/pip/_internal/configuration.py

Line 373 in 97f6390

def _iter_config_files(self):

), then use that as part of pip config --files.

[deveshks]

We'd want to expose _iter_config_files as a public attribute of Configuration

Thanks for the tip. I will take your suggestion as a starting point and create PR's accordingly, to implement this feature and document it as well.

[sbidoul]

pip config --files is the color I prefer for the bikeshed.

Since pip config takes subcommand it might be confusing to have pip config --files list? Or should the presence of --files preclude subcommands? Or should it be a subcommand? pip config list-files.

I may have a slight preference for adding this in pip debug output.

[pradyunsg]

pip config list-files is significantly better than my original suggestion. :)

pip debug is explicitly not for programmatic consumption, and we'd want this to be accessible to end users' automation. That said, this should also be included there. :)

FWIW, I don't have strong preferences on what we call this.

[deveshks]

IMO, once we make _iter_config_files a class attribute of Configuration, we can use it to display the information anywhere, be it pip debug or pip config

I think if we add it in pip debug, we would want to show that info towards the top, since otherwise if we show it in the latter half, we would need --verbose to see it.

Also pip config list-files is the better suggestion to keep with the tradition of using a single word subcommand in pip config

I can go ahead and start by creating the interface which will print this info, and then it can be used at either, or both places (debug and config) as per requirement.

[xavfernandez]

I'm wondering if a pip config debug command would not be more helpful by including the various values present in each file ?

$ pip config debug
env:
  PIP_INDEX_URL: https://test.pypi.org/simple/
global:
  /etc/pip.conf, exists: False 
site:
  /usr/pip.conf, exists: True 
    install.timeout: 10
user:
  /home/xafer/.pip/pip.conf, exists: True
    global.index_url: https://private_pypi.com/simple/
    global.timeout: 15
  /home/xafer/.config/pip/pip.conf, exists: False

or as part of pip config list --debug

$ pip config list --debug
env var PIP_INDEX_URL set
global file /etc/pip.conf does not exist
site file /usr/pip.conf exists
user file /home/xafer/.pip/pip.conf exists
user file /home/xafer/.config/pip/pip.conf does not exist

global.index_url = https://test.pypi.org/simple/ (from env variable PIP_INDEX_URL)
install.timeout = 10 (from site file /usr/pip.conf)
global.timeout = 15 (from user file /home/xafer/.pip/pip.conf)

[deveshks]

I think changing the sub-command from list-files to just list the files, and if they exists, to a subcommand debug or list --debug, which does that as well as list various options in the files maybe a good idea.

I think pip config list --debug might be a bit better, since list lists the active configuration values across all files, and we can pass the extra debug flag to list the files and also the configurations present.

I like the first output style still better than second, since all the needed values are nested below each other for quick reference, whereas in the second, we list the files first, and then for options, we would need to cross reference the names from the top.

Also if we have the same keys in say both site-wide and per-user file, do we display the key in both site-wide and per-user file, or we only display the overridden value?