New option "--first" for "spack location" (#36283)

2 files changed, 18 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/location.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/location.py
index aba8264a28..0afac01b0c 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/location.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/location.py
@@ -76,6 +76,14 @@ def setup_parser(subparser):
         help="location of the named or current environment",
     )
 
+    subparser.add_argument(
+        "--first",
+        action="store_true",
+        default=False,
+        dest="find_first",
+        help="use the first match if multiple packages match the spec",
+    )
+
     arguments.add_common_arguments(subparser, ["spec"])
 
 
@@ -121,7 +129,7 @@ def location(parser, args):
     # install_dir command matches against installed specs.
     if args.install_dir:
         env = ev.active_environment()
-        spec = spack.cmd.disambiguate_spec(specs[0], env)
+        spec = spack.cmd.disambiguate_spec(specs[0], env, first=args.find_first)
         print(spec.prefix)
         return
 
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/location.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/location.py
index 38d3f45619..1e42141199 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/location.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/location.py
@@ -37,6 +37,15 @@ def mock_spec():
     shutil.rmtree(s.package.stage.path)
 
 
+def test_location_first(install_mockery, mock_fetch, mock_archive, mock_packages):
+    """Test with and without the --first option"""
+    install = SpackCommand("install")
+    install("libelf@0.8.12")
+    install("libelf@0.8.13")
+    # This would normally return an error without --first
+    assert location("--first", "--install-dir", "libelf")
+
+
 def test_location_build_dir(mock_spec):
     """Tests spack location --build-dir."""
     spec, pkg = mock_spec