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I’ve already created a corresponding branch in psychopy_linux_installer that would work with this implementation of the config folder, if this PR is accepted:
wieluk/psychopy_linux_installer@start-wrapper

I would have preferred to add a --config-folder=... flag instead of relying on an environment variable. However, this approach seems more complicated, since the config folder is needed before command-line arguments are parsed.

@TEParsons @mdcutone this seems sensible to me (for other OSs as well as linux, actually)

It would mean, for instance, that we can launch a psychopy process with a deliberately different set of preferences by setting that as an env var while launching the process

I would have preferred to add a --config-folder=... flag instead of relying on an environment variable. However, this approach seems more complicated, since the config folder is needed before command-line arguments are parsed.

This was my first thought too - I think it's workable still as the only thing prefs is needed for in the arg parsing stage is a default for showSplash. We could have that default to None, then import and setup prefs after parsing args, then say if args.showSplash is None: args.showSplash = prefs.app['showSplash'].

I have an idea of how this could look so I'll submit a PR to your branch :)

wieluk#1

Thanks for your help @TEParsons!

However, with your version, the .psychopy3 folder is still being created in the home directory when PsychoPy starts, even when I specify a different directory using --user-dir=/any/other/folder.

As it stands, the folder ends up being created in both locations.
This also results in a strangely split configuration: for example, if I change the theme in Preferences and then delete the .psychopy3 folder in HOME, the theme resets to default on the next launch — even though that preference should have been saved in /any/other/folder.

It seems like PsychoPy is still relying on the home directory for certain settings despite the --user-dir override.

Ah, I see what you mean... I was testing it by checking that self.paths['userPrefsDir'] was populated correctly, so I missed that the actual prefs weren't changed. I think it's because loadAll is called when prefs is initialised, but isn't called again when we do getPaths with the new directory.

Maybe rather than calling the two separately in __init__, we could have getPaths be called inside loadAll & call that when setting the custom path? I'll update the PR (and test it properly this time!)

I've updated the PR. It appears to be functioning correctly now. However, it still creates a .psychopy3 directory in both locations. Under /home/.psychopy3, everything except the monitors and themes folders is now empty in /home. Preventing this behavior would likely require a significant refactor of the preferences.

I think that's okay :) It'll be creating the folder when initially importing the class, but so long as it doesn't use that folder when told not to it's fine for it to exist.