config corruption

[mixmix]

We've see several instances of config corruption

• 🔥 entropy -a --help does not help and nukes config #244
• entropy fails to start with an empty config  #245
• Confusing error message when ENTROPY_TUI_ENDPOINT not set correctly, and failure to connect when setting the chain endpoint to localhost #268

It should not be possible, and if it happens (user or other program mutated config), then we should get more info.

To consider:

• atomic read/ write (lockfile?)
• write-lock in CLI code
• validation of input to config.set
  • is it an object?
  • does it have required fields?
    • JSON schema

[mixmix]

Tasks

• 1.write isValidConfig function

  • use JSON Schema + AJV
    • it's good learning
    • JSON Schema can be used in other languages
    • check it outputs detailed errors (e.g. "missing .accounts")
  • MUST have required fields, subfields
  • SHOULD allow for additional fields (if users wanna put junk in there)
  • write tests

    isValidConfig(goodConfig)
    // => true
    isValidConfig.errors = []
    
    isValidConfig(badConfig)
    // => false
    isValidConfig.errors = [
      "config.selectedAccount must be a string",  // examples, hopefully AJV has clear output
      "config.accounts missing"
    ]

• 2. add isValidConfig check to config.set

  • should throw error if someone tries to set a bad config
  • should NOT write
  • write tests

• 3. research how / where to guard config.get

  • we want to guard against ingesting bad config into Entropy
  • we need to be able to read "old" config that might not be "right" but should be once we migrate
  • should each migration have a schema associated with it
  • Produce a new issue describing what you find, then a proposed solution

• 4. review the code base

  • look for places config is used, whether there are other places we want isValidConfig