Should we warn about (potentially) unlisted `hostSpecificFiles`?
- Dominant language
- Python
- Stars
- 5
- Forks
- 2
- PR merge metrics
- No merged PRs in 30d
Description
Host-specific files that are not listed in `hostSpecificFiles` will be installed on other hosts too, which often (but not always) is a programming error. Unfortunately, we cannot detect host-specific files automatically by their name alone (on any machine other than the host they are intended for), so we'd have to implement this as a form of "lint rule", that emits a warning whenever a dotfile is installed that...
- contains the current hostname
- is not listed under `hostSpecificFiles`
There may, however, be valid use cases for installing files as-is, especially if no further meaning is assigned to file names containing the hostname, in which case such a warning might become noisy. We could add a flag for suppressing it to the `dotpkg.json`, though the question remains as to whether the use case of host-specific files is compelling enough that all file names should be interpreted at all by default, even if only for a warning.
Contributor guide
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Research direction
Start by locating the dotfile installation logic and the handling of `hostSpecificFiles`. Review how hostname-containing dotfiles are currently treated, then determine whether a warning and an opt-out belong in the package configuration. Done is not defined until the warning behavior and suppression policy are settled.
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Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- cli
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100