Per-revision configuration directories (was: Re: ~/.gnuradio and ~/.grc_gnuradio as environment variables)

[Lukas Haase]

Hi Jeff,

I am trying to switch between 3.7, 3.8 and 3.9.
Hence GR_PREFS_PATH is unfortunately too new.

I have tried GR_CONF_GRC_GLOBAL_BLOCKS_PATH but it does not resolve any issues.

The issue is that different versions just change so many things and you get all 
kinds of nasty issues if the configuration is shared between different versions.
I think not separating ~/.gnuradio and ~/.grc_gnuradio across major revisions 
is a terrible idea. All major applications (just thinking of MATLAB, 
Mathematica, ...) separate it.

Just as an example: Everything works fine with 3.8

Then I switch to 3.9 and I get:

Generate Error: 'catch_exceptions'
>>> Failure
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File 
"/opt/gnuradio/github-master/lib/python3/dist-packages/gnuradio/grc/gui/Application.py",
 line 710, in _handle_action
    generator.write()
  File 
"/opt/gnuradio/github-master/lib/python3/dist-packages/gnuradio/grc/core/generator/top_block.py",
 line 83, in write
    for filename, data in self._build_python_code_from_template():
  File 
"/opt/gnuradio/github-master/lib/python3/dist-packages/gnuradio/grc/core/generator/top_block.py",
 line 122, in _build_python_code_from_template
    'catch_exceptions': fg.get_option('catch_exceptions')
  File 
"/opt/gnuradio/github-master/lib/python3/dist-packages/gnuradio/grc/core/FlowGraph.py",
 line 181, in get_option
    return self.options_block.params[key].get_evaluated()
KeyError: 'catch_exceptions'

when generating a flowgraph. Once I delete ~/.gnuradio and ~/.grc_gnuradio, it 
works.


Is there a cmake switch to set these to ~/.gnuradio/3.8 and ~/.grc_gnuradio/3.8 
etc. at compile time?

Best,
Lukas


PS: I changed the title of this conversation because in the end it's about 
separating the config across multiple revisions. If this done via environment 
variables or not does not matter in the end.


> From: Jeff Long <willcode4@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: ~/.gnuradio and ~/.grc_gnuradio as environment variables
>
> In 3.9, the environment variable GR_PREFS_PATH optionally points to the
> location of the user's .gnuradio directory, which is then used for the rest
> of configuration.
>
> On all versions, GR_CONF_GRC_GLOBAL_BLOCKS_PATH will override the location
> of the system block descriptions, assuming they've been installed in
> different directories.
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 18, 2021 at 11:11 PM Lukas Haase <lukashaase@gmx.at> wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > Is it possible to set the paths to ~/.gnuradio and ~/.grc_gnuradio via
> > environment variables?
> >
> > I can't imagine that I am the only one suffering from this but these
> > directories are a royal pain when switching between gnuradio functions.
> >
> > I am using environment modules and ideally I'd just set those via
> > environment variables to something like ~/.gnuradio-3.7 and
> > ~/.grc_gnuradio-3.7.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Lukas
> >
> >
> > PS: I was trying to hack something with symlinks but this gets so
> > unreliable (e.g. when a user uses different versions in different shells)
> > ... so this is not a solution.