better packaging & easier setup of hledger shell completions

[simonmichael]

[2013-09-12 earlier issue: bash, zsh, *sh auto-completion support #136]

[2019-03-09 this issue, original title: built-in command line completions]
Here's an example where the command line (bash) completions are built in, for convenience. Something like this would make hledger's command line completions available to more folks.

You can as well use autocomplete of your shell with following command:

source <(chronos --bash-completion-script `which chronos`)

[2019-10-19 renamed: can we provide shell completions as part of hledger, for easier setup ?]

[2024-09-13 renamed: better packaging & easier setup of hledger shell completions]

[schoettl]

I think we only need to package the existing script into the distro packages.

People who install hledger using the source code can as well add source ~/software/hledger/shell-completion/hledger-completion.bash to their .bashrc.

Other people install it with their package manager and in future hopefully have the completion for free without doing anything.

How is the release cycle with hledeger? Do you know when package maintainers create a new version for hledger?

Last time, I asked at some distros, they closed/deferred the issue because the completion script was not yet in the sources they used for the package...

Status:

• Ubuntu told me to submit this issue to debian repos: https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/haskell-hledger/+question/678127
• Debian told me that the completion script must first be in the sources they use for the release.
• AUR told me nothing - I don't know who is the package maintainer: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/hledger-git/#news
• Arch deferred the task, I guess for the same reason Debian did: https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/61546

[simonmichael]

On Mar 10, 2019, at 6:20 AM, Jakob Schöttl ***@***.***> wrote: I think we only need to package the existing script into the distro packages. People who install hledger using the source code can as well add source ~/software/hledger/shell-completion/hledger-completion.bash to their .bashrc. Other people install it with their package manager and in future hopefully have the completion for free without doing anything.

That would be ideal, but consider what a small proportion of hledger users that applies to, at least right now. Currently no package does this. Many people build from source since packages are too old, or use hledger-install because they want something easy, or download binaries for windows.

How is the release cycle with hledeger? Do you know when package maintainers create a new version for hledger?

hledger's usual release window is the the first day or two of each month. We don't yet have many active packagers; some updates come quickly, some come when you prod them, others come very rarely. I've been working to make the situtation clearer on the download page.

Last time, I asked at some distros, they closed/deferred the issue because the completion script was not yet in the sources they used for the package...

That's a good point.. packagers work from the package tarball on Hackage. We should add the completion scripts to that, by adding the files to hledger/package.yaml (extra-source-files or data-files or something else, I can never remember).

Status: Ubuntu told me to submit this issue to debian repos: https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/haskell-hledger/+question/678127 <https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/haskell-hledger/+question/678127> Debian told me that the completion script must first be in the sources they use for the release. AUR told me nothing - I don't know who is the package maintainer: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/hledger-git/#news <https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/hledger-git/#news> Arch deferred the task, I guess for the same reason Debian did: https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/61546 <https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/61546>Great, thanks for pursuing that.

I think maybe we should have packager names/contact links/issue tracker links on the download page.

[ony]

Looks like duplicate of #136

[simonmichael]

This topic is a bit confusing, but I think this issue is about having the existing shell completions built in to the hledger executable, for easier setup. I've edited to make that clearer.

[hseg]

Either option (adding the completion to the bindist or embedding it into the binary) would be OK, but please do one of them.
I'm currently pushing back on the AUR packager for hledger-bin, but that wouldn't be necessary if the file were in the bindist to begin with.

[simonmichael]

Is there a user of shell completions out there who’d like to work on this ?

[simonmichael]

PS, since I never use shell completions (I use emacs shells, where they don't work), could y'all motivate them a little, by showing some examples of how they help you ? In my hledger usage, I'm not typing long commands or options and I'm not sure how helpful shell completions can be here.

[hseg]

Partially to discover options -- this is my primary way of discovering subcommands for a new program before cracking open the manual. Partially to make sure I make syntactically-correct invocations (and thus avoid typos).
But mostly my motivation here is that given that it's there, it's a shame not to use it fully.

[simonmichael]

Thanks for the response. I don't think we should spend effort on this if it's not actually useful. I'm too lazy to figure out how to set this up again and try it for myself, but discovering options does sound like a good use case. That's instead of cracking open --help, I guess.

[simonmichael]

(Or --tldr).

[hseg]

Do note I'm barely proficient with hledger, so my experience is probably not indicative.