Possible to extend Pixi global exposes without overwriting defaults?

[matthewfeickert]

In

$ pixi --version
pixi 0.56.0

if you give pixi global install --expose options those options will overwrite the default CLIs that the tool would normally expose.

Example:

By default root (particle physics C++ analysis framework) exposes root as a CLI tool

$ pixi global install root
└── root: 6.36.04 (installed)
    └─ exposes: root

but if you add an --expose command that option will remove root

$ pixi global uninstall root
Removed environment root.                                                                                                                                           $ pixi global install --expose pyroot=python root
└── root: 6.36.04 (installed)
    └─ exposes: pyroot -> python

unless you redefine that expose

$ pixi global uninstall root
Removed environment root.                                                                                                                                           $ pixi global install --expose root=root --expose pyroot=python root
└── root: 6.36.04 (installed)
    └─ exposes: root, pyroot -> python

Is it possible to extend the existing exposed CLIs without overwriting them without having to redefine them?

[Hofer-Julian]

You can run pixi global expose add pyroot=python after installing it

[matthewfeickert]

Okay thanks @Hofer-Julian. But there's no way to do this at install time, only after initial install, correct?

[Hofer-Julian]

Yeah.

If this something that it is important to you, I'd consider adding a flag. Ideally we wouldn't since pixi global already has quite a few flags

[matthewfeickert]

If this something that it is important to you, I'd consider adding a flag.

It isn't extremely important, but in the use case of wanting to quickly be able to share a global tool setup with someone (without sharing a snippet from ~/.pixi/manifests/pixi-global.toml) it is useful to give someone in chat a 1-liner.

pixi global install root
pixi global expose add --environment root pyroot=python

isn't bad, and I can also appreciate the views that if you're going to have a more custom global tool customization then maybe you should create an environment instead of a global tool, but on the flip side being able to make some rather powerful global environments quickly I think is a pretty cool power move / flex of Pixi.