How to change config-directory-path for internal commands?

[theRoboxx]

Hi there,
I'm using NixOS and build my system via my config files.
Therefore the config files for clifm are stored under ~/nixos-config/config/clifm/ and not ~/.config/clifm/.
Is it possible to change this path for internal command like config or bm add, so it uses the files inside ~/nixos-config/config/clifm/profiles/default/clifmrc or ~/nixos-config/clifm/profiles/default/cbookmarks.clifm?

Thanks in advance!

[leo-arch]

Hi @theRoboxx. Try with -D,--config-dir.

clifm -D ~/nixos-config/clifm

Take a look also at -b,--bookmarks-file and -c,--config-file.

[leo-arch]

Let me see if I understand the procedure, which, based on what you say (If I select the build from yesterday it chooses the automatically-stored files from yesterday and not the recent edited files from now), I reconstruct as follows:

1. You create a "snapshot" (don't know if this is the appropriate word) of the system (including current clifm's config files) via nixos-rebuild switch (or some other command, or maybe automatically, it doesn't matter). Config files are stored in /nix/store (or somewhere else, it doesn't matter either).
2. You modify some clifm settings, altering thus the config files. These changes are not reflected in the snapshot taken in step 1 (because modifications are made rather on ~/.config/clifm).
3. You want to rollback to the state the system was during the snapshot taken in step 1. Thereby, you lose the changes made in step 2 (but you want to keep them).

Is this correct? If so, I still don't see what clifm can do to help. I cannot but feel that a little script executed before (or after) clifm, automatically updating config files in /nix/store (or wherever), would be the simplest and most intuitive solution. But, doesn't this defeat the idea of an immutable OS?

[theRoboxx]

I think, I over-complicated it a bit, sorry.
This is what I would like to be able to do:

---

10. .config/clifm/profiles/default/clifmrc is used as the config file when starting clifm.
11. The internal command config should open the the bla/xxx/yyy/file file for editing.

30..config/clifm/profiles/default/bookmarks.clifm is used as the bookmarks file when starting clifm.
40. The internal command bm add should add bookmarks to the bla/xxx/yyy/book.clifm file.

---

Currently the -c flag changes the path for (10) and (20).
The -b flag changes the path for (30) and (40).

[leo-arch]

But, if (10) is loaded at startup, and config modifies (20), the next time you start clifm changes made to (20) before will be lost, because you will be loading again from (10). Same thing with bookmarks. What's the point? Why do you want to add a bookmark that won't survive the current session?

[theRoboxx]

Ok, now I see what is missing.

In NixOS you have a dedicated directory for all the configs in the OS and applications.
In my example I choose ~/nixos-config/ as the directory.
If I build the system, everything from ~/nixos-config/ gets stored first in /nix/store as a new Snapshot. From there I need to map all config files and where they should be linked for the applications to use them, like clifm.

    ".config/clifm/profiles/default/clifmrc" = {
      source = ~/nixos-config/config/clifm/profiles/default/clifmrc;
    };
    ".config/clifm/profiles/default/bookmarks.clifm" = {
      source = ~/nixos-config/clifm/profiles/default/bookmarks.clifm;
    };

I can't link them directly from /nix/store to ~/nixos-config/clifm/profiles/default/. because the version I edit and the version from nix/store are different and therefore I need (10) and (20) to have a different path.
(10) should be .config/clifm/profiles/default/clifmrc and (20) should be ~/nixos-config/config/clifm/profiles/default/clifmrc.

nix/store is managed by the os and only gets changed by creating/deleting snapshots.

[leo-arch]

Thanks for the info @theRoboxx . I'll keep it in mind and let you know if anything comes out.