Include or exclude .chezmoidata/* files via .chezmoiignore file.

[foobl42]

I can't seem to include/exclude data files (.chezmoidata. or .chezmoidata/*.) via the .chezmoiignore file. I use the .chezmoiignore file to include/exclude files/scripts/etc based on logic or wholesale within that file... but can't seem to do it with data files. Is it possible somehow, but I'm needing to use some specific format for these types of paths (like list .local/chezmoi/.chezmoidata/foo.toml) or something? Or can this be a new feature request? Thoughts?

[twpayne]

That is correct. It has to be this way because otherwise there would be a circular dependency between .chezmoidata files and .chezmoiignore files. chezmoi breaks this dependency by always reading all .chezmoidata files before executing and .chezmoiignore files.

.chezmoidata files are templates so you can disable them with an {{ if ... }} / {{ end }} block around the contents.

[foobl42]

Thanks I thought .chezmoidata files were not allowed to be templated. Has this changed?

[twpayne]

No, this was me mis-rembering.

[foobl42]

Ah understood. Thanks for the clarification.

[vbrand1984]

According to the documentation (1, 2), the .chezmodata.* files cannot be templated, and seemingly they are not a subject for the .chezmoiignore file, because the latter deals with the target state of the directories managed by chezmoi, and those .chezmoidata files do not go to the target directory. So, these files can contain only static data.

If dynamic data for your machines is needed, there are at least two approaches which I personally use. First, you can conditionally set variables in your .chezmoi.toml.tmpl, which is the template for your chezmoi config file.

Second, you can store your conditional data as templates and then load them in your desired config files with the includeTemplate function. For example, put this in your .chezmoitemplates/myData.yaml.tmpl:

---
foo:
  bar: {{ .someOption | ternary "blahblah" "tralala" }}
...

And then you can load this data in any templated config files:

{{- $myData := includeTemplate "myData.yaml.tmpl" . | fromYaml -}}

{{ $myData.foo.bar }}

This template will generate blablah or tralala depending on the .someOption value.

[foobl42]

Thanks. That was the approach I was taking generally (both options). But I was looking to see if I could break out separate "static" data files where the only "dynamic" part of it would be whether to get chezmoi to ignore or not. Understand now that isn't possible due to @twpayne's response earlier in this thread. I'm hoping @twpayne wasn't mistaken when he said .chezmoidata files are templates... that seems like a change to me. Waiting to hear back. 😅

[foobl42]

@twpayne clarified. So I'll keep to the two existing solutions. Thanks again for the feedback.