Using chezmoi to Replace a Line in an Extracted File from an External Archive

[hexqubit]

Hi, I'm trying to use chezmoi with chezmoiexternal to download and manage a remote archive, and then modify one of the files inside it after extraction.

Here's the config I'm using in .chezmoiexternal.toml:

[".config/quickshell"]
type = "archive"
url = "https://api.github.com/repos/end-4/dots-hyprland/tarball"
exact = true
include = ["*/.config/quickshell/**"]
stripComponents = 3
refreshPeriod = "24h"

What I want to do is replace a line in the extracted file ii/screenshot.qml. Specifically, I want to change this line:

swappy -f -

to:

gradia

I tried using a filter like this:

filter.command = "sed"
filter.args = ["-i", "s/swappy -f -/gradia/g", "ii/screenshot.qml"]

But it doesn’t work — I get errors like “file not found” or “unknown archive format.” The file definitely exists, so I don’t think it’s a path issue. I’m probably just misunderstanding how filters work with archives.

I'm new to chezmoi, so I’m not sure if this is the right way to do it.

Would really appreciate any help or pointers — thanks!

[Lockszmith-GH]

No real idea right now, but take a look at the modify_ file type
You might need to do a double apply though - not sure it will actually work - because there is a potential conflict here.

Another option would be to separate the externals.
I'm doing it today, as I have chezmoi dynamically check for new updates, but only when I want it to.

For how this solution looks like, take a look at discussion #2375

I'm actually doing something 'near' to your idea, where I have an external that is only pulled when command doesn't exist in the system, but if I do pull the external, I symlink to it from other names, so while not the "chicken-or-the-egg" combination you're describing, it has some simliarity

[twpayne]

filter applies to the archive data, not the contents of the files in the archive, so it won't help here.

There are at least three options that should work. Warning: I haven't tested any of them.

Option 1: manage ii/screenshot.qml as a normal file, not as an external

1. Exclude ii/screenshot.qml from the .config/quickshell external by adding a line like

   exclude = ['ii/screenshot.sql']
   

   to the external in .chezmoiexternal.toml.

2. Manage ~/.config/quickshell/ii/screenshot.qml as a normal file in chezmoi, i.e. run

   chezmoi add ~/.config/quickshell/ii/screenshot.qml
   

You should be then able to make your changes to screenshot.qml. Of course, this means that you'll have to maintain all of screenshot.qml yourself.

Option 2: manage the github.com/end-4/dots-hyprland external as a git-repo instead of an archive

This way you can make local changes to ii/screenshot.qml and they will be preserved over updates. chezmoi runs git pull --rebase to update git-repo externals.

Option 3: use a script

This is the simplest and ugliest, but should work. Use a run_after_ script that runs the sed command.

[hexqubit]

filter applies to the archive data, not the contents of the files in the archive, so it won't help here.

There are at least three options that should work. Warning: I haven't tested any of them.

Option 1: manage ii/screenshot.qml as a normal file, not as an external

1. Exclude `ii/screenshot.qml` from the `.config/quickshell` external by adding a line like
   ```
   exclude = ['ii/screenshot.sql']
   ```
   
   
       
         
       
   
         
       
   
       
     
   to the external in `.chezmoiexternal.toml`.

2. Manage `~/.config/quickshell/ii/screenshot.qml` as a normal file in chezmoi, i.e. run
   ```
   chezmoi add ~/.config/quickshell/ii/screenshot.qml
   ```

You should be then able to make your changes to screenshot.qml. Of course, this means that you'll have to maintain all of screenshot.qml yourself.

Option 2: manage the github.com/end-4/dots-hyprland external as a git-repo instead of an archive

This way you can make local changes to ii/screenshot.qml and they will be preserved over updates. chezmoi runs git pull --rebase to update git-repo externals.

Option 3: use a script

This is the simplest and ugliest, but should work. Use a run_after_ script that runs the sed command.

Thanks for the detailed reply!

I actually tried multiple methods, but none of them worked.

Option 1

I'm getting this error:

This might be a bug — not really sure, since I'm still new to chezmoi.

Option 2

The include function doesn’t seem to work for me. What I actually want is for the change to happen automatically when I apply my dotfiles on a new machine — not something I have to redo manually every time.

Option 3

This might work, but yeah, it feels like the ugliest solution.

---

I also tried adding this hook:

[hooks.apply.post]
command = "sed"
args = ["-i", "s/swappy -f -/gradia/g", "{{ .chezmoi.homeDir }}/.config/quickshell/ii/screenshot.qml"]

But it only works after running chezmoi apply twice. It also throws an error when I try to re-add the file: