Create the same file differently, depending on a condition?

[FranklinYu]

I’d like ~/.cache to be a normal directory on Linux, but a symbolic link on Darwin. Right now I’m using a script. Is there any idiomatic way?

I know how to create a conditional symbolic link with templates. I think the problem is how to create the directory conditionally. If I understand it correctly, creating an empty directory is like

- dot_cache
   `- .keep

Even I make .keep empty, the directory will still be created.

[twpayne]

Currently, there is no way for the same path (~/.cache) to have different types on different machines. However, there is a work-around for this specific case.

~/.cache is a directory on Linux by default, so you can ignore it on Linux, and then make it a symlink on macOS. For example (not tested):

In your .chezmoiignore:

{{ if ne .chezmoi.os "darwin" }}
.cache
{{ end }}

in ~/.local/share/chezmoi/symlink_dot_cache:

Library/Caches

This will make ~/.cache a symlink to ~/Library/Caches on macOS and ignore ~/.cache on all other OSes.

[FranklinYu]

If I recall correctly, ~/.cache/ directory is missing on a fresh-install of Debian. This is problematic because many applications would create the directory ~/.cache/foobar only when ~/.cache/ exists. My point is to create this missing ~/.cache/ on Linux, not to ignore it. From your answer, I infer that a run_ script is best we have so far. Thanks anyway!

[twpayne]

Yeah, a run_ script is the current best option here.

[FranklinYu]

By the way, since a run_ script is opaque to Chezmoi, is there any feature/FR for the script to “tell” Chezmoi that it is managing some file/directory? This way, the file/directory (target) can be shown in the managed sub-command, and Chezmoi can warn me when the target is changed outside of Chezmoi.

[twpayne]

No, there is no way to tell chezmoi which files and directories are touched by scripts.