Any tips for tracking settings.json in version control?

[sbirch-fl]

I'm trying to track Micro's ~/.config/micro/settings.json in my "dotfiles" Git repo, but Micro likes to edit it. So it usually shows up as "dirty", and pulling changes from other hosts often fails. Any tips for staying sane with settings.json under version control? Or is there a way to get Micro to not make changes to that file automatically?

Edited to add: I think I probably don't understand how the settings file is supposed to work. Most of the settings in there appear to be the default values. I guess they were added by Micro for my convenience? It's not very convenient when Git is involved. 😁

[Andriamanitra]

Maybe you are using a version of micro before #3009? (as of writing the fix hasn't made it to a tagged version yet so you'll need to use the nightly release or build from source nvm, it's in 2.0.14)

In versions after #3009 you can mostly avoid micro editing settings.json by not using plugins that automatically change the settings and avoiding the set command (use setlocal instead for temporary settings). Same goes for bindings.json – avoid plugins that set their bindings programmatically and favor editing bindings.json manually instead of using bind command. Besides that my strategy has been to frequently commit (or discard) the changes to keep it up to date.

If you want to be absolutely sure micro won't modify settings automatically you can make the file read-only (chmod -w ~/.config/micro/settings.json), but then you'll need to change the permissions back (or use superuser) whenever you want to edit it. There's also an open PR that adds a setting that prevents plugins from modifying settings.json/bindings.json – you may want to chime in there if that would be useful for you: #3618

[sbirch-fl]

Yup, you're right. I was using an absolutely ancient version of Micro on one host. Thanks for your help!