use asdf global not working in the absence of a local .tool-versions file

[michi-zuri]

Let's say I have $HOME/.tool-versions listing my global tools:

direnv 2.20.0
nodejs 13.1.0

and I need to do something with my globally activated tools in /opt/something/

Without this plugin the shims provided by asdf resolve the command npm and direnv without a fuss to the one specified in above-mentioned file. With this asdf-direnv plugin, it's currently a pain to use global tools outside of the $HOME directory.

For example, I could put an .envrc file with the following content in my root folder / with the content
use asdf global, but in the absence of a /.tool-versions file (note: also in the root folder) it will end up in an infinite loop looking for one while trying to resolve the environment.

When providing an empty /.tool-versions file or one with just a comment it will create an environment without any tools loaded, ignoring not only the topmost /.tool-versions but also the global tools in $HOME/.tool-versions.

When providing a /.tool-versions file with some content like golang 1.13.5 it will create an environment with the global tools as specified in $HOME/.tool-versions and ignoring the contents of /.tool-versions as expected.

Trying a different variant of the /.envrc file with use asdf $HOME/.tool-versions also results in an infinite loop, repeatedly spitting out the same error, even though the searched file exists, even if I chown and chgrp and chmod it to eliminate any possible permission problems, also happening if I write out $HOME in the envrc file as /Users/mimi:

direnv: loading /.envrc
direnv: using asdf /Users/mimi/.tool-versions
direnv: could not find .tool-versions file

$HOME/.envrc file with use asdf $HOME/.tool-versions works fine, so not sure where the problem lies. In general I failed to source a .tool-versions file that was not in the same directory as the .envrc

What this testing revealed is that use asdf global does not find the global tools in the absence of a valid local project .tool-versions and that it doesn't seem possible to call .tool-versions by path from everywhere. The latter is probably a bug.

What is needed is a clean way to enable just the global tools as specified in $HOME/.tool-versions — without any recursive stacking or legacy file considerations — in all directories that are not a local project with their own .envrc.

I would propose that what is currently called use asdf global should be renamed to use asdf other. use asdf current would still be use asdf other followed by use asdf local, so no change is needed in the implementation of those. use asdf global should be synonymous with use asdf $HOME/.tool-versions and the implementation of this should be fixed. A way should be created to load the global environment in the .bash_profile or equivalent.

[vic]

also working on this at #37

[michi-zuri]

also working on this at #37

Just want to let you know that I tested the pull request with the newest master of asdf and it makes it very easy to enable global tools anywhere:

use asdf in $HOME/.envrc works for the $HOME directory and what also works is putting the .envrc in the root folder / instead, which enables global tools anywhere on the file system. Very cool! Thank you very much for the work you are putting into this.

I also very much like the removal of complexity, just having use asdf without any extensions.

[vic]

Nice, thanks for trying it out. Will be trying to shipit ASAP.

[omares]

Thanks @michi-zuri for reporting this 👍 , as i also experienced the problem as seen in #33

[dagadbm]

so is this problem fixed or not?

i must be missing something because my entire environment doesnt work now.

its not very obvious by the readme (for someone who just wants a performance improvement over asdf) that you need to have a .envrc file per each folder you decide to use..

This is not very elegent. I dont understand why this code by default just doesnt load the default asdf globals always and only when a .envrc is present changes them

[michi-zuri]

The issue that global tools do not work outside the home directory if local tools are not set is now fixed. @dagadbm if you want to use asdf with direnv outside of your /home/you (/Users/you on macOS) directory, you can leave your .tool-versions file in your home directory and just put a .envrc with the oneliner "use asdf" in your root folder: sudo -c 'echo "use asdf" > /.envrc' should do the trick.