*.plist files broke chezmostatus and diff

[owpac]

Describe the bug

When saving *.plist files with chezmoi add and then checking the status with chezmoi status, chezmoi will say the files aren't the same (without any differences).

To reproduce

Step 1)

$ chezmoi add Library/Preferences/com.googlecode.iterm2.plist

Step 2)

$ chezmoi status
MM Library/Preferences/com.googlecode.iterm2.plist

Expected behavior

In the step 2 we should have no differences returned by chezmoi status nor chezmoi diff

Output of command with the --verbose flag

$ chezmoi --verbose status
MM Library/Preferences/com.googlecode.iterm2.plist

Output of chezmoi doctor

$ chezmoi doctor
RESULT    CHECK                       MESSAGE
ok        version                     v2.47.1, commit 1ce6b2eeb0caf75bd91883e5a968e713a26e7be2, built at 2024-03-03T00:47:52Z, built by Homebrew
ok        latest-version              v2.47.1
ok        os-arch                     darwin/arm64
ok        uname                       Darwin MACM-DWKDW2L4WM 23.3.0 Darwin Kernel Version 23.3.0: Wed Dec 20 21:30:44 PST 2023; root:xnu-10002.81.5~7/RELEASE_ARM64_T6000 arm64
ok        go-version                  go1.22.0 (gc)
ok        executable                  /opt/homebrew/bin/chezmoi
ok        upgrade-method              brew-upgrade
ok        config-file                 ~/.config/chezmoi/chezmoi.yaml, last modified 2024-03-14T16:23:31+01:00
warning   source-dir                  ~/.local/share/chezmoi is a git working tree (dirty)
ok        suspicious-entries          no suspicious entries
warning   working-tree                ~/.local/share/chezmoi is a git working tree (dirty)
ok        dest-dir                    ~ is a directory
ok        umask                       022
ok        cd-command                  found /bin/zsh
ok        cd-args                     /bin/zsh
ok        diff-command                found /opt/homebrew/bin/code
ok        edit-command                found /opt/homebrew/bin/code
ok        edit-args                   code --wait
ok        git-command                 found /opt/homebrew/bin/git, version 2.44.0
ok        merge-command               found /opt/homebrew/bin/code
ok        shell-command               found /bin/zsh
ok        shell-args                  /bin/zsh
info      age-command                 age not found in $PATH
ok        gpg-command                 found /opt/homebrew/bin/gpg, version 2.4.5
info      pinentry-command            not set
ok        1password-command           found /opt/homebrew/bin/op, version 2.25.0
info      bitwarden-command           bw not found in $PATH
info      bitwarden-secrets-command   bws not found in $PATH
info      dashlane-command            dcli not found in $PATH
info      doppler-command             doppler not found in $PATH
info      gopass-command              gopass not found in $PATH
info      keepassxc-command           keepassxc-cli not found in $PATH
info      keepassxc-db                not set
info      keeper-command              keeper not found in $PATH
info      lastpass-command            lpass not found in $PATH
info      pass-command                pass not found in $PATH
info      passhole-command            ph not found in $PATH
info      rbw-command                 rbw not found in $PATH
info      vault-command               vault not found in $PATH
info      vlt-command                 vlt not found in $PATH
info      secret-command              not set

Additional context

Note that I tried to chezmoi re-add, chezmoi apply and then overwrite, but chezmoi status keep saying that there are differences between the files.

Thanks a lot for all your work on chezmoi.

[twpayne]

$ chezmoi status
MM Library/Preferences/com.googlecode.iterm2.plist

The M in the first column indicates that another program (probably iTerm2 itself) has modified Library/Preferences/com.googlecode.iterm2.plist since chezmoi last wrote it. Therefore, if chezmoi were to overwrite it, then you would lose some local changes.

Unfortunately iTerm2 is one of those naughty programs that modifies its own configuration files. You have a few options:

• Use a modify_ script to just modify the parts of com.googlecode.iterm2.plist that you care about.
• Or, use this symlink technique.
• Or, use a script that uses macOS's defaults command.

[owpac]

Thanks a lot for your reply!

You're right, the issue is on ITerm2 side.

I tried your options:

• modify_ script is not a suitable solution because the *.plist files are binary files, so I can't really know which part to modify with chezmoi.
• this symlink technique is not possible anymore on MacOS 14 (symlinks can't be used in Library/Preferences anymore). That's why I wanted to use the copy mechanism in the first place.
• macOS's defaults command can't help me save my ITerm2 configuration, unfortunately.

I can't think of another alternative to bypass this new MacOS 14 limitation & my need to save some app's configuration. Maybe I will just chezmoi apply --force and if I need to persist some new settings, I will need to chezmoi re-add 🤔

Anyway, thanks for everything @twpayne 🙏

[twpayne]

• modify_ script is not a suitable solution because the *.plist files are binary files, so I can't really know which part to modify with chezmoi.

I think something like the following should work in ~/.local/share/chezmoi/Library/Preferences/modify_com.googlecode.iterm2.plist (warning: untested):

#!/bin/bash

# create a temporary file
tmpfile=$(mktemp)

# ensure that the temporary file is removed on exit
trap "rm -f $(tmpfile)" EXIT

# write the .plist to the temporary file
cat > "$(tmpfile)"

# replace .plist values in the temporary file
plutil -replace MyBoolValue -bool false "$(tmpfile)"

# write the temporary file to stdout
cat "$(tmpfile)"

• macOS's defaults command can't help me save my ITerm2 configuration, unfortunately.

I think you can use a script that uses plutil to replace values in Library/Preferences/com.googlecode.iterm2.plist (warning: untested).

[owpac]

Interesting! It's gonna need a bit of digging, but I'm going to try that out! Thanks a lot for your ideas!