[Freeipa-devel] [freeipa PR#182][comment] Use env var IPA_CONFDIR to get confdir for 'cli' context

[tiran]

  URL: https://github.com/freeipa/freeipa/pull/182
Title: #182: Use env var IPA_CONFDIR to get confdir for 'cli' context

tiran commented:
"""
No, env vars are **the** standard way to change the behavior of a program for a local session. They are used all over the place: MIT KRB5 as KRB5_CONFIG, Python has PYTHONHOME and more, OpenSSL has SSL_CERT_FILE/DIR, Freedesktop has XDG_DATA_HOME, XDG_CONFIG_HOME...

I could bring up the same argument against your proposal to use a shell alias. Shell aliases are even worse because they work only in shells and not for ```execve()``` calls. Env vars are common to change the environment of a program (hence the name) while shell aliases are a hack.

It is not only a good idea, it's required to make integration of FreeIPA's client libraries in 3rd party applications feasible.
"""

See the full comment at https://github.com/freeipa/freeipa/pull/182#issuecomment-259654400