~bzr-pqm/bzr/bzr.dev

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

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" or "text".  If
the value is "none" then no progress bar is displayed.  The value "text" draws
the ordinary command line progress bar.

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_LOG
~~~~~~~

Location of the Bazaar log file. You can check the current location by
running ``bzr version``.

The log file contains debug information that is useful for diagnosing or
reporting problems with Bazaar.

Setting this to ``NUL`` on Windows or ``/dev/null`` on other platforms
will disable logging.


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

The path to the plugins directory that Bazaar should use.
If not set, Bazaar will search for plugins in:

* the user specific plugin directory (containing the ``user`` plugins),

* the bzrlib directory (containing the ``core`` plugins),

* the site specific plugin directory if applicable (containing
  the ``site`` plugins).

If ``BZR_PLUGIN_PATH`` is set in any fashion, it will change the
the way the plugin are searched. 

As for the ``PATH`` variables, if multiple directories are
specified in ``BZR_PLUGIN_PATH`` they should be separated by the
platform specific appropriate character (':' on Unix,
';' on windows)

By default if ``BZR_PLUGIN_PATH`` is set, it replaces searching
in ``user``.  However it will continue to search in ``core`` and
``site`` unless they are explicitly removed.

If you need to change the order or remove one of these
directories, you should use special values:

* ``-user``, ``-core``, ``-site`` will remove the corresponding
  path from the default values,

* ``+user``, ``+core``, ``+site`` will add the corresponding path
  before the remaining default values (and also remove it from
  the default values).

Note that the special values 'user', 'core' and 'site' should be
used literally, they will be substituted by the corresponding,
platform specific, values.

The examples below use ':' as the separator, windows users
should use ';'.

Overriding the default user plugin directory::

  BZR_PLUGIN_PATH='/path/to/my/other/plugins'

Disabling the site directory while retaining the user directory::

  BZR_PLUGIN_PATH='-site:+user'

Disabling all plugins (better achieved with --no-plugins)::

  BZR_PLUGIN_PATH='-user:-core:-site'

Overriding the default site plugin directory::

  BZR_PLUGIN_PATH='/path/to/my/site/plugins:-site':+user

BZR_DISABLE_PLUGINS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Under special circumstances (mostly when trying to diagnose a
bug), it's better to disable a plugin (or several) rather than
uninstalling them completely. Such plugins can be specified in
the ``BZR_DISABLE_PLUGINS`` environment variable.

In that case, ``bzr`` will stop loading the specified plugins and
will raise an import error if they are explicitly imported (by
another plugin that depends on them for example).

Disabling ``myplugin`` and ``yourplugin`` is achieved by::

  BZR_DISABLE_PLUGINS='myplugin:yourplugin'

BZR_PLUGINS_AT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When adding a new feature or working on a bug in a plugin,
developers often need to use a specific version of a given
plugin. Since python requires that the directory containing the
code is named like the plugin itself this make it impossible to
use arbitrary directory names (using a two-level directory scheme
is inconvenient). ``BZR_PLUGINS_AT`` allows such directories even
if they don't appear in ``BZR_PLUGIN_PATH`` .

Plugins specified in this environment variable takes precedence
over the ones in ``BZR_PLUGIN_PATH``.

The variable specified a list of ``plugin_name@plugin path``,
``plugin_name`` being the name of the plugin as it appears in
python module paths, ``plugin_path`` being the path to the
directory containing the plugin code itself
(i.e. ``plugins/myplugin`` not ``plugins``).  Use ':' as the list
separator, use ';' on windows.

Example:
~~~~~~~~

Using a specific version of ``myplugin``:
``BZR_PLUGINS_AT='myplugin@/home/me/bugfixes/123456-myplugin``

BZRPATH
~~~~~~~

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


http_proxy, https_proxy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Specifies the network proxy for outgoing connections, for example::

  http_proxy=http://proxy.example.com:3128/ 
  https_proxy=http://proxy.example.com:3128/


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

Location
~~~~~~~~

Configuration files are located in ``$HOME/.bazaar`` on 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

A variable can reference other variables **in the same configuration file** by
enclosing them in curly brackets::

    my_branch_name = feature_x
    my_server      = bzr+ssh://example.com
    push_location   = {my_server}/project/{my_branch_name}


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`` allows two sections: ``[DEFAULT]`` and ``[ALIASES]``.
The 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://example.com/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 :doc:`authentication-help`.


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

debug_flags
~~~~~~~~~~~

A comma-separated list of debugging options to turn on.  The same values
can be used as with the -D command-line option (see `help global-options`).
For example::

    debug_flags = hpss

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.

log_format
~~~~~~~~~~

The default log format to use. Standard log formats are ``long``, ``short``
and ``line``. Additional formats may be provided by plugins. The default
value is ``long``.

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

Reserved for future use.  These options will allow a policy for branches to
require 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 on commits.  By default bzr will not
sign new commits.

always
    Sign every new revision that is committed.  If the signing fails then the
    commit will not be made.

when-required
    Reserved for future use.

never
    Reserved for future use.

In future it is planned that ``when-required`` will sign newly
committed revisions only when the branch requires them.  ``never`` will refuse
to sign newly committed revisions, even if the branch requires signatures.

dirstate.fdatasync
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If true (default), working tree metadata changes are flushed through the
OS buffers to physical disk.  This is somewhat slower, but means data
should not be lost if the machine crashes.  See also repository.fdatasync.

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.

locks.steal_dead
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If set to true, bzr will automatically break locks held by processes from
the same machine and user that are no longer alive.  Otherwise, it will
print a message and you can break the lock manually, if you are satisfied
the object is no longer in use.

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:

:claws: Use Claws.  This skips a dialog for attaching files.
: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

repository.fdatasync
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If true (default), repository changes are flushed through the OS buffers
to physical disk.  This is somewhat slower, but means data should not be
lost if the machine crashes.  See also dirstate.fdatasync.

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``.

suppress_warnings
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A list of strings, each string represent a warning that can be emitted by
bzr. Mentioning a warning in this list tells bzr to not emit it.

Valid values:

* ``format_deprecation``:
    whether the format deprecation warning is shown on repositories that are
    using deprecated formats.

default_format
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A format name for the default format used when creating branches.  See ``bzr
help formats`` for possible values.


Unicode options
---------------

output_encoding
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Python unicode encoding name for text output from bzr, such as log
information.  Values include: utf8, cp850, ascii, iso-8859-1.  The default
is the terminal encoding prefered by the operating system.


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``. If you set it
manually, use either 'True' or 'False' (case-sensitive) to maintain
compatibility with previous bzr versions (older than 2.2).

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

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

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

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

push_strict
~~~~~~~~~~~

If present, defines the ``--strict`` option default value for checking
uncommitted changes before pushing.

dpush_strict
~~~~~~~~~~~~

If present, defines the ``--strict`` option default value for checking
uncommitted changes before pushing into a different VCS without any
custom bzr metadata.

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``.

send_strict
~~~~~~~~~~~

If present, defines the ``--strict`` option default value for checking
uncommitted changes before sending a merge directive.


External Merge Tools
--------------------

bzr.mergetool.<name>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Defines an external merge tool called <name> with the given command-line.
Arguments containing spaces should be quoted using single or double quotes. The
executable may omit its path if it can be found on the PATH.

The following markers can be used in the command-line to substitute filenames
involved in the merge conflict::

  {base}      file.BASE
  {this}      file.THIS
  {other}     file.OTHER
  {result}    output file
  {this_temp} temp copy of file.THIS, used to overwrite output file if merge
              succeeds.

For example::

  bzr.mergetool.kdiff3 = kdiff3 {base} {this} {other} -o {result}

bzr.default_mergetool
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Specifies which external merge tool (as defined above) should be selected by
default in tools such as ``bzr qconflicts``.

For example::

  bzr.default_mergetool = kdiff3