added better support for finding the config dir; added environment variable MPLCONFIGDIR

jdh2358 · jdh2358 · commit d934dc120a00 · 2007-06-27T20:28:05.000Z
svn path=/trunk/matplotlib/; revision=3421
diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+2007-06-27 Added MPLCONFIGDIR for the default location for mpl data
+           and configuration.  useful for some apache installs where
+           HOME is not writable.  Tried to clean up the logic in
+           _get_config_dir to support non-writable HOME where are
+           writable HOME/.matplotlib already exists - JDH
+
+2007-06-27 Fixed locale bug reported at
+           http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1744154&group_id=80706&atid=560720
+           by adding a cbook.unicode_safe function - JDH
+
 2007-06-27 Applied Micheal's tk savefig bugfix described at
            http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1716732&group_id=80706&atid=560720
            Thanks Michael!
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
@@ -323,16 +323,28 @@ def _get_home():
 
 def _get_configdir():
     """
-    Return the string representing the configuration dir.  If s is the
-    special string _default_, use HOME/.matplotlib.  s must be writable
+    Return the string representing the configuration dir.  
+
+    default is HOME/.matplotlib.  you can override this with the
+    MPLCONFIGDIR environment variable
     """
-    h = get_home()
-    if not _is_writable_dir(h):
-        raise RuntimeError("'%s' is not a writable dir; you must set environment variable HOME to be a writable dir "%h)
 
+    configdir = os.environ.get('MPLCONFIGDIR')
+    if configdir is not None:
+        if not _is_writable_dir(configdir):
+            raise RuntimeError('Could not write to MPLCONFIGDIR="%s"'%configdir)
+        return configdir
+    
+    h = get_home()
     p = os.path.join(get_home(), '.matplotlib')
+    
+    if os.path.exists(p):
+        if not _is_writable_dir(p):
+            raise RuntimeError("'%s' is not a writable dir; you must set %s/.matplotlib to be a writable dir.  You can also set environment variable MPLCONFIGDIR to any writable directory where you want matplotlib data stored "%h)
+    else:
+        if not _is_writable_dir(h):
+            raise RuntimeError("Failed to create %s/.matplotlib; consider setting MPLCONFIGDIR to a writable directory for matplotlib configuration data"%h)
 
-    if not _is_writable_dir(p):
         os.mkdir(p)
 
     return p
