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-rw-r--r--lib/spack/docs/getting_started.rst3
-rw-r--r--lib/spack/docs/packaging_guide.rst30
-rw-r--r--lib/spack/spack/test/util/editor.py26
-rw-r--r--lib/spack/spack/util/editor.py2
4 files changed, 57 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/lib/spack/docs/getting_started.rst b/lib/spack/docs/getting_started.rst
index 3c847b876e..46bf657d62 100644
--- a/lib/spack/docs/getting_started.rst
+++ b/lib/spack/docs/getting_started.rst
@@ -368,7 +368,8 @@ Manual compiler configuration
If auto-detection fails, you can manually configure a compiler by
editing your ``~/.spack/<platform>/compilers.yaml`` file. You can do this by running
-``spack config edit compilers``, which will open the file in your ``$EDITOR``.
+``spack config edit compilers``, which will open the file in
+:ref:`your favorite editor <controlling-the-editor>`.
Each compiler configuration in the file looks like this:
diff --git a/lib/spack/docs/packaging_guide.rst b/lib/spack/docs/packaging_guide.rst
index 0b1e596abf..c81c68dc80 100644
--- a/lib/spack/docs/packaging_guide.rst
+++ b/lib/spack/docs/packaging_guide.rst
@@ -229,7 +229,8 @@ always choose to download just one tarball initially, and run
Spack automatically creates a directory in the appropriate repository,
generates a boilerplate template for your package, and opens up the new
-``package.py`` in your favorite ``$EDITOR``:
+``package.py`` in your favorite ``$EDITOR`` (see :ref:`controlling-the-editor`
+for details):
.. code-block:: python
:linenos:
@@ -335,6 +336,31 @@ The rest of the tasks you need to do are as follows:
:ref:`installation_process` is
covered in detail later.
+
+.. _controlling-the-editor:
+
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+Controlling the editor
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+When Spack needs to open an editor for you (e.g., for commands like
+:ref:`cmd-spack-create` or :ref:`spack edit`, it looks at several environment variables
+to figure out what to use. The order of precedence is:
+
+* ``SPACK_EDITOR``: highest precedence, in case you want something specific for Spack;
+* ``VISUAL``: standard environment variable for full-screen editors like ``vim`` or ``emacs``;
+* ``EDITOR``: older environment variable for your editor.
+
+You can set any of these to the command you want to run, e.g., in ``bash`` you might run
+one of these::
+
+ export VISUAL=vim
+ export EDITOR="emacs -nw"
+ export SPACK_EDITOR=nano
+
+If Spack finds none of these variables set, it will look for ``vim``, ``vi``, ``emacs``,
+``nano``, and ``notepad``, in that order.
+
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Non-downloadable software
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
@@ -1787,7 +1813,7 @@ for instructions on setting up a mirror.
After running ``spack install pgi``, the first thing that will happen is
Spack will create a global license file located at
``$SPACK_ROOT/etc/spack/licenses/pgi/license.dat``. It will then open up the
-file using the editor set in ``$EDITOR``, or vi if unset. It will look like
+file using :ref:`your favorite editor <controlling-the-editor>`. It will look like
this:
.. code-block:: sh
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/util/editor.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/util/editor.py
index fea4ff03d2..7ba21a2d0b 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/util/editor.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/util/editor.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ pytestmark = [
# env vars that control the editor
-EDITOR_VARS = ["VISUAL", "EDITOR"]
+EDITOR_VARS = ["SPACK_EDITOR", "VISUAL", "EDITOR"]
@pytest.fixture(scope="module", autouse=True)
@@ -104,6 +104,30 @@ def test_editor_gvim_special_case(gvim_exe):
assert ed.editor("/path/to/file", exec_fn=assert_exec)
+def test_editor_precedence(good_exe, gvim_exe, vim_exe, bad_exe):
+ """Ensure we prefer editor variables in order of precedence."""
+ os.environ["SPACK_EDITOR"] = good_exe
+ os.environ["VISUAL"] = gvim_exe
+ os.environ["EDITOR"] = vim_exe
+ correct_exe = good_exe
+
+ def assert_callback(exe, args):
+ result = ed.executable(exe, args)
+ if result == 0:
+ assert exe == correct_exe
+ return result
+
+ ed.editor(exec_fn=assert_callback)
+
+ os.environ["SPACK_EDITOR"] = bad_exe
+ correct_exe = gvim_exe
+ ed.editor(exec_fn=assert_callback)
+
+ os.environ["VISUAL"] = bad_exe
+ correct_exe = vim_exe
+ ed.editor(exec_fn=assert_callback)
+
+
def test_find_exe_from_env_var_no_editor():
if "FOO" in os.environ:
os.environ.unset("FOO")
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/util/editor.py b/lib/spack/spack/util/editor.py
index 8d053ac8eb..87dea8b831 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/util/editor.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/util/editor.py
@@ -127,6 +127,8 @@ def editor(*args: List[str], exec_fn: Callable[[str, List[str]], int] = os.execv
return try_exec(exe, full_args, var)
# try standard environment variables
+ if try_env_var("SPACK_EDITOR"):
+ return True
if try_env_var("VISUAL"):
return True
if try_env_var("EDITOR"):