~bzr-pqm/bzr/bzr.dev

Configuration Settings
=======================

.. TODO: Should have some explanation of why you'd want things in
.. branch.conf.


Environment settings
---------------------

While most configuration is handled by configuration files, some options
which may be semi-permanent can also be controlled through the environment.

BZR_EMAIL
~~~~~~~~~

Override the email id used by Bazaar.  Typical format::

  "John Doe <jdoe@example.com>"

See also the ``email`` configuration value.

BZR_PROGRESS_BAR
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Override the progress display.  Possible values are "none", "dots", "tty"

BZR_SIGQUIT_PDB
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Control whether SIGQUIT behaves normally or invokes a breakin debugger.

* 0 = Standard SIGQUIT behavior (normally, exit with a core dump)
* 1 = Invoke breakin debugger (default)

BZR_HOME
~~~~~~~~

Override the home directory used by Bazaar.

BZR_SSH
~~~~~~~

Select a different SSH implementation.

BZR_PDB
~~~~~~~

Control whether to launch a debugger on error.

* 0 = Standard behavior
* 1 = Launch debugger

BZR_REMOTE_PATH
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Path to the Bazaar executable to use when using the bzr+ssh protocol.

See also the ``bzr_remote_path`` configuration value.

BZR_EDITOR
~~~~~~~~~~

Path to the editor Bazaar should use for commit messages, etc.

BZR_PLUGIN_PATH
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The path to the plugins directory that Bazaar should use.

BZRPATH
~~~~~~~

The path where Bazaar should look for shell plugin external commands.


Configuration files
-------------------

Location
~~~~~~~~

Configuration files are located in ``$HOME/.bazaar`` on Linux/Unix and
``C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Bazaar\2.0`` on
Windows. (You can check the location for your system by using
``bzr version``.)

There are three primary configuration files in this location:

* ``bazaar.conf`` describes default configuration options,

* ``locations.conf`` describes configuration information for
  specific branch locations,

* ``authentication.conf`` describes credential information for
  remote servers.

Each branch can also contain a configuration file that sets values specific
to that branch. This file is found at ``.bzr/branch/branch.conf`` within the
branch. This file is visible to all users of a branch, if you wish to override
one of the values for a branch with a setting that is specific to you then you
can do so in ``locations.conf``.

General format
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An ini file has three types of contructs: section headers, section
variables and comments.

Comments
^^^^^^^^

A comment is any line that starts with a "#" (sometimes called a "hash
mark", "pound sign" or "number sign"). Comment lines are ignored by
Bazaar when parsing ini files.

Section headers
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

A section header is a word enclosed in brackets that starts at the begining
of a line.  A typical section header looks like this::

    [DEFAULT]

The only valid section headers for bazaar.conf currently are [DEFAULT] and
[ALIASES].  Section headers are case sensitive. The default section provides for
setting variables which can be overridden with the branch config file.

For ``locations.conf``, the variables from the section with the
longest matching section header are used to the exclusion of other
potentially valid section headers. A section header uses the path for
the branch as the section header. Some examples include::

    [http://mybranches.isp.com/~jdoe/branchdir]
    [/home/jdoe/branches/]


Section variables
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

A section variable resides within a section. A section variable contains a
variable name, an equals sign and a value.  For example::

    email            = John Doe <jdoe@isp.com>
    check_signatures = require


Variable policies
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Variables defined in a section affect the named directory or URL plus
any locations they contain.  Policies can be used to change how a
variable value is interpreted for contained locations.  Currently
there are three policies available:

 none:
   the value is interpreted the same for contained locations.  This is
   the default behaviour.
 norecurse:
   the value is only used for the exact location specified by the
   section name.
 appendpath:
   for contained locations, any additional path components are
   appended to the value.

Policies are specified by keys with names of the form "$var:policy".
For example, to define the push location for a tree of branches, the
following could be used::

  [/top/location]
  push_location = sftp://example.com/location
  push_location:policy = appendpath

With this configuration, the push location for ``/top/location/branch1``
would be ``sftp://example.com/location/branch1``.


The main configuration file, bazaar.conf
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

``bazaar.conf`` only allows one
section called ``[DEFAULT]``. This default section contains the default
configuration options for all branches. The default section can be
overriden by providing a branch-specific section in ``locations.conf``.

A typical ``bazaar.conf`` section often looks like the following::

    [DEFAULT]
    email             = John Doe <jdoe@isp.com>
    editor            = /usr/bin/vim
    check_signatures  = check-available
    create_signatures = when-required


The branch location configuration file, locations.conf
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

``locations.conf`` allows one to specify overriding settings for
a specific branch. The format is almost identical to the default section in
bazaar.conf with one significant change: The section header, instead of saying
default, will be the path to a branch that you wish to override a value
for. The '?' and '*' wildcards are supported::

    [/home/jdoe/branches/nethack]
    email = Nethack Admin <nethack@nethack.com>

    [http://hypothetical.site.com/branches/devel-branch]
    create_signatures = always
    check_signatures  = always

    [http://bazaar-vcs.org/bzr/*]
    check_signatures  = require

The authentication configuration file, authentication.conf
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

``authentication.conf`` allows one to specify credentials for
remote servers. This can be used for all the supported transports and any part
of bzr that requires authentication (smtp for example).

The syntax of the file obeys the same rules as the others except for the
variable policies which don't apply.

For more information on the possible uses of the authentication configuration
file see `Authentication Settings`_.


Common variable options
-----------------------

email
~~~~~

The email address to use when committing a branch. Typically takes the form
of::

    email = Full Name <account@hostname.tld>

editor
~~~~~~

The path of the editor that you wish to use if *bzr commit* is run without
a commit message. This setting is trumped by the environment variable
``BZR_EDITOR``, and overrides the ``VISUAL`` and ``EDITOR`` environment
variables.

check_signatures
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Defines the behavior for signatures.

require
    The gnupg signature for revisions must be present and must be valid.

ignore
    Do not check gnupg signatures of revisions.

check-available
    (default) If gnupg signatures for revisions are present, check them.
    Bazaar will fail if it finds a bad signature, but will not fail if
    no signature is present.

create_signatures
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Defines the behaviour of signing revisions.

always
    Sign every new revision that is committed.

when-required
    (default) Sign newly committed revisions only when the branch requires
    signed revisions.

never
    Refuse to sign newly committed revisions, even if the branch
    requires signatures.

recurse
~~~~~~~

Only useful in ``locations.conf``. Defines whether or not the
configuration for this section applies to subdirectories:

true
    (default) This section applies to subdirectories as well.

false
    This section only applies to the branch at this directory and not
    branches below it.

gpg_signing_command
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Default: "gpg"). Which program should be used to sign and check revisions.
For example::

    gpg_signing_command = /usr/bin/gnpg

bzr_remote_path
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Default: "bzr").  The path to the command that should be used to run the smart
server for bzr.  This value may only be specified in locations.conf, because:

- it's needed before branch.conf is accessible
- allowing remote branch.conf files to specify commands would be a security
  risk

It is overridden by the BZR_REMOTE_PATH environment variable.

smtp_server
~~~~~~~~~~~

(Default: "localhost"). SMTP server to use when Bazaar needs to send
email, eg. with ``merge-directive --mail-to``, or the bzr-email plugin.

smtp_username, smtp_password
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

User and password to authenticate to the SMTP server. If smtp_username
is set, and smtp_password is not, Bazaar will prompt for a password.
These settings are only needed if the SMTP server requires authentication
to send mail.

mail_client
~~~~~~~~~~~

A mail client to use for sending merge requests.
By default, bzr will try to use ``mapi`` on Windows.  On other platforms, it
will try ``xdg-email``. If either of these fails, it will fall back to
``editor``.

Supported values for specific clients:

:evolution: Use Evolution.
:kmail: Use KMail.
:mutt: Use Mutt.
:thunderbird: Use Mozilla Thunderbird or Icedove.  For Thunderbird/Icedove 1.5,
    this works around some bugs that xdg-email doesn't handle.

Supported generic values are:

:default: See above.
:editor: Use your editor to compose the merge request.  This also uses
    your commit id, (see ``bzr whoami``), smtp_server and (optionally)
    smtp_username and smtp_password.
:mapi: Use your preferred e-mail client on Windows.
:xdg-email: Use xdg-email to run your preferred mail program

submit_branch
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The branch you intend to submit your current work to.  This is automatically
set by ``bzr send``, and is also used by the ``submit:`` revision spec.  This
should usually be set on a per-branch or per-location basis.

public_branch
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A publically-accessible version of this branch (implying that this version is
not publically-accessible).  Used (and set) by ``bzr send``.


Branch type specific options
----------------------------

These options apply only to branches that use the ``dirstate-tags`` or
later format.  They
are usually set in ``.bzr/branch/branch.conf`` automatically, but may be
manually set in ``locations.conf`` or ``bazaar.conf``.

append_revisions_only
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If set to "True" then revisions can only be appended to the log, not
removed.  A branch with this setting enabled can only pull from
another branch if the other branch's log is a longer version of its
own.  This is normally set by ``bzr init --append-revisions-only``.

parent_location
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If present, the location of the default branch for pull or merge.
This option is normally set by ``pull --remember`` or ``merge
--remember``.

push_location
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If present, the location of the default branch for push.  This option
is normally set by ``push --remember``.

bound_location
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The location that commits should go to when acting as a checkout.
This option is normally set by ``bind``.

bound
~~~~~

If set to "True", the branch should act as a checkout, and push each commit to
the bound_location.  This option is normally set by ``bind``/``unbind``.