Configure preferences

This page shows you how to set Russet’s preferences on each platform and how to use a separate preference file. For the list of keys, see Preferences.

Before you begin

Install Russet.

Bring over your Python AutoPkg preferences

Russet keeps its own preferences and doesn’t read Python AutoPkg’s preferences when it runs recipes. If you used Python AutoPkg, copy your settings into Russet’s preferences with russet migrate. Until you do, Russet starts with empty preferences. Russet never changes Python AutoPkg’s preferences, so Python AutoPkg keeps working.

For the steps, see Switch from Python AutoPkg.

Set preferences on macOS

On macOS, Russet reads the com.github.russet preference domain.

To set a preference, run the following command:

defaults write com.github.russet KEY VALUE

Replace the following:

KEY: the preference key, such as MUNKI_REPO.
VALUE: the value to set, such as /Users/Shared/munki_repo.

To set a list, such as RECIPE_OVERRIDE_DIRS, use -array:

defaults write com.github.russet RECIPE_OVERRIDE_DIRS -array ~/Library/Russet/RecipeOverrides FOLDER_PATH

Replace FOLDER_PATH with the path of another folder.

To see your current preferences as Russet reads them, run russet info without a recipe name.

Set preferences on Linux

On Linux, Russet reads config.plist or config.json in ~/.config/Russet, or in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/Russet if you set XDG_CONFIG_HOME. Russet saves preference changes, such as the repositories that russet repo-add adds, to that folder. If the folder has no preference file, Russet creates the folder and config.json the first time that it saves a change.

To create a preference file yourself, follow these steps:

Create the folder:
Terminal window
```
mkdir -p ~/.config/Russet
```
Create config.json with at least one key. For example, the following command sets the cache folder:
Terminal window
```
printf '{\n  "CACHE_DIR": "/var/tmp/russet-cache"\n}\n' > ~/.config/Russet/config.json
```
Confirm that Russet reads the file:
Terminal window
```
russet info
```
The output starts with Current preferences: and lists the keys that Russet read.

To change a preference, edit the file in a text editor.

Set preferences on Windows

On Windows, Russet reads config.plist or config.json in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Russet. As on Linux, Russet creates the folder and config.json the first time that it saves a change.

To create a preference file yourself, run the following commands in PowerShell:

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Russet"
Set-Content -Path "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Russet\config.json" -Value '{ "CACHE_DIR": "C:\\RussetCache" }'

To change a preference, edit the file in a text editor.

Use a separate preference file

To use a different set of preferences for one command, such as a test configuration, pass a preference file with --prefs:

russet run --prefs PREFERENCE_FILE RECIPE