Storing variables to be ignored by git in a js file?

TimOgden

@sdetweil okay, thanks a lot for the reference material. I’ll work on that and post my solution when I finish. Thanks!

sdetweil

@timogden u can look at some of my scripts which get a list from a command then loop

see… restore which reads a file of module urls

https://github.com/sdetweil/MagicMirror-backup-restore

karsten13

@timogden

you could use envsubst < config/config.js.template > config/config.js.

The config.js.template is the config for both which contains variables for the different values. So you could write a script which sets the variables for user1 and then run envsubst for config1 and the same for user2/config2 afterwards.

sdetweil

@karsten13 same as I suggested different tool

but envsubst needs it’s values in the environment variables… so another hidden thing (to me)

karsten13

@sdetweil

only wanted to post this variant …

As background: This is a feature of my docker container where you can use a config.js.template and the variables are defined in the docker-compose.yml which starts the container and before starting mm I run envsubst to make the real config.js.

CFenner

@timogden I’ve created a module to extract the config so you don’t need to maintain your own whole MM fork: https://forum.magicmirror.builders/topic/16224/mmm-personalconfig-persist-personal-config-to-github/1

A way to achieve what you want could be to create your own copy of personal config with your mirror config. Then make a clone of if for your friend where you do the specific changes. Changes to your repo then can be pulled to the other one via Pull requests.
In combination with MMM-UpdateNotification with can pull updates automatically, your friend won’t need to do anything.

TimOgden

@sdetweil Ok, implementing @sdetweil 's suggestions, I have created a working version. This is my workflow.

// config/dictionary.txt
// This is a list of key-value or string-replacement pairs
"{latitude}"    :    "40"
"{longitude}"    :    "-70"

// installers/copy-values.sh
// sed command found here: 
// https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/269368/string-replacement-using-a-dictionary
cd ~/MagicMirror
cp config/config.model.js config/config.js
sed '
s|"\(.*\)"[[:blank:]]*:[[:blank:]]*"\(.*\)"|\1\
\2|
h
s|.*\n||
s|[\&/]|\\&|g
x
s|\n.*||
s|[[\.*^$/]|\\&|g
G
s|\(.*\)\n\(.*\)|s/\1/\2/g|
' config/dictionary.txt | sed -i -f - config/config.js

DISPLAY=:0 npm start

Now I can have separate dictionary.txt files on both machines for any local important information, which I will add to .gitignore. I will continue to modify config.model.js, and config.model.js will be copied and cleaned up with all the right values before every start of the mirror.

TimOgden

@timogden Also, I should add that there is nothing fancy about the strings on the left-hand side of my dictionary.txt. That’s just how I decided to distinigush them. This is how I would write my config.model.js file now:

// config/config.model.js
...
config: {
    lat: {latitude},
    lon: {longitude},
    apiKey: {API_KEY},
}
...

sdetweil

@timogden cool… I would just use them where u need them in any module in the template.

and then replace all…

also I would use the quoted on the left (and in the config.js template)
and the replace with or without as appropriate (so u can replace numbers without and text with quotes)

using the quotes means u can run npm run config:check and not get errors