Improvements to locating piccolo_conf.py

[dantownsend]

Issue #323 gave me some ideas about improvements to the way Piccolo looks for a piccolo_conf.py file.

I'm just documenting them here as ideas - they could be developed in the future if people think they're needed.

1. PICCOLO_CONF changes

The PICCOLO_CONF environment variable could accept a comma separated list of paths, in case you wanted Piccolo to look in multiple places.

# Piccolo would search for piccolo_conf.py in the current directory, and in an 'app' sub directory
export PICCOLO_CONF="piccolo_conf,app.piccolo_conf"

2. Add --piccolo_conf option to the CLI

When using the piccolo CLI, an extra parameter could be added which specifies where to look for the piccolo_conf.py file:

piccolo migrations check --piccolo_conf=app.piccolo_conf

3. .piccolo file

The contents would be something like:

PICCOLO_CONF=piccolo_conf_test

The precedence for finding a piccolo_conf.py file would then be as follows:

• If the PICCOLO_CONF environment variable exists, use this.
• Otherwise, look for a .piccolo file in the current directory, and use that.
• Otherwise, import piccolo_conf.py

[AliSayyah]

I like these ideas, especially .piccolo. it seems like a permanent solution.

[stronk7]

Just guessing if looking for it also in CWD could be interesting.

Until now, I’ve had it in the root of my project (following a hint in the docs) and it has been working perfectly from the IDE (because it, automatically, adds the project root to the python path.

But a few hours ago, I’ve packaged the project, that includes a script to launch it and when I install it in other environment/project and execute it, the conf file isn’t found anymore.

I know that I can I set it both adding to the python path or hacking the package main script to setup the piccolo_conf env var… and I will. Just I was expecting it to work automatically in the root of any project / that uses to be the CWD normally.

FYC, ciao :)

[amirreza-sf80]

hi
a bit late but supporting pyproject could be helpful
with env vars you need to remember to add it to shell everytime you use it
or write something up to automate it, but pyproject is always there