FR: hyperlink file paths with OSC 8

[schpet]

in my terminal i'd like to be able to click on paths to open my editor. with ghostty it doesn't link relative paths by default, and relies on the app implementing OSC 8 hyperlink support. many CLI tools like cargo, ripgrep, etc support OSC 8, as documented here:

https://github.com/Alhadis/OSC8-Adoption

in my own fork i've got a patch that implements this, and i've provided a video below showing how it lets me click on output from jj show --stat to switch from ghostty to a text editor (zed).

video demonstrating a proof of concept

jj-hyperlink.mp4

i thought it would make more sense to bring it up here to before proposing a MR for this.

related:

• templates: add hyperlink alias #7452
• FR: Add a knob to disable OSC 8 escape sequences #7592
• v0.34.0 #7627

[jennings]

I think this a good idea. But, I think it would be more jj-like if we could do it with templates.

If I add this into my config, I get clickable links in Ghostty with the output of jj file list. I don't know if this is enough for your scenario? I don't think the jj show --stat output uses templates for the paths, so we'd want to update that.

[templates]
file_list = '''
hyperlink(path.display(), path.display()) ++ "\n"
'''

[jennings]

Amusingly enough, making jj status use templates is being discussed in Discord today.

[martinvonz]

We have many templates like format_short_commit_id() that are provided for the user to override. Perhaps we should define and use a format_path(path) that's defined as path.display() by default.

[schpet]

Perhaps we should define and use a format_path(path) that's defined as path.display() by default.

i think that would be pretty flexible, and would be really nice as a user to not have to customize multiple templates to get hyperlinks generally.

i think the parameters ripgrep passes are interesting: path, host, line, column, wslprefix.

i see they also lean towards using absolute paths here:

The path is guaranteed to be absolute and percent encoded such that it is valid to put into a URI.

[schpet]

i've been able to get a couple changes to support this:

1. adding a format path helper

this seemed straightforward, and i've adapted file list to use it

schpet@push-lzxnomutqqmv

2. exposing absolute path on RepoPath

this is something i found i needed to get ghostty links working

schpet@push-qrkrqswupvlx

update: someone else added this in #7991 👍🏻

3. adapting status to use templates

because status is the main place where i want to be able to click on paths i started here.

this is where i realized that not knowing what i was doing at all is a bit of a problem. but curiosity got the better of me i pulled the llm lever enough times to come up with a proof of concept for this.

exclude untracked files

# ~/.config/jj/config.toml
# note: seeing untracked files requires `jj config set --repo snapshot.auto-track 'none()'`
'format_status_changes(status)' = '''
if(status.has_file_changes(),
  concat(
    "Working copy changes:\n",
    status.file_changes().map(|file| format_status_file_entry(file)).join("")
  ),
  "The working copy has no changes.\n"
)
'''

showing grandparents

jj status -T '
    concat(
      format_status_changes(self),
      "Working copy    (@)  : " ++ format_commit_summary_with_refs(self.working_copy(),
    self.working_copy().bookmarks()) ++ "\n",
      self.parents().map(|commit|
        concat(
          "Parent commit   (@-) : " ++ format_commit_summary_with_refs(commit, commit.bookmarks()) ++
    "\n",
          commit.parents().map(|grandparent|
            "Grandparent     (@--): " ++ format_commit_summary_with_refs(grandparent,
    grandparent.bookmarks()) ++ "\n"
          ).join("")
        )
      ).join(""),
      format_status_bookmark_conflicts(self),
    )
    '

this change almost definitely makes a lot of bad and uninformed designs decisions, but for posterity it is here:
schpet@push-qnmlqlrysuos

next steps

so i'm wondering, for the first two changes, do those sound directionally right? i can add docs, seek review on an MR. i'm just not sure if it makes sense to add before the status templating is in. as for jj status templating, i'm not sure if i'm at the right skill level to implement that but could either try to do it or at least open up an FR and see if anyone with more time and knowledge is interested in doing the work, or, if someone has a lot of patience i could try and learn and work on this more and see it through.

updated this comment nov 11 to reflect some changes after a rebase

[schpet]

split this off into:

• template: add a format_path(...) template to allow path customization #8022
• FR: Template support for jj status #8021

[schpet]

copying this here for reference, from #8022 (comment)

martinvonz
The scope is very limited so far (just jj file list AFAICT). I think we should say that so users are not confused or disappointed when they try it.

In order to expand the scope, we will need to update uses of RepoPathUiConverter to call this template function.

schpet
@martinvonz yes, this is only used by jj file list - i've updated the change log to reflect that.

thanks for this tip around RepoPathUiConverter! i will explore that.

martinvonz
#7991 should be good for inspiration. That added a .absolute() method. I think we want a .relative() (or .cwd_relative()?) for converting to a cwd-relative platform-specific string (/ in Unix, \ on Windows).