mise use --global writing on conf.d instead of global config.toml

[parera10]

Hi,

# mise doctor                                                                                                                                          
version: 2025.7.31 macos-arm64 (2025-07-29)
activated: yes
shims_on_path: no
self_update_available: no

build_info:
  Target: aarch64-apple-darwin
  Features: DEFAULT, NATIVE_TLS, SELF_UPDATE
  Built: Tue, 29 Jul 2025 23:52:42 +0000
  Rust Version: rustc 1.88.0 (6b00bc388 2025-06-23) (Homebrew)
  Profile: release

shell:
  /bin/zsh
  zsh 5.9 (arm64-apple-darwin24.0)

aqua:
  baked in registry tools: 0 – aqua registry tools are not compiled into mise, will be fetched dynamically from https://mise-versions.jdx.dev

dirs:
  cache: ~/.cache/mise
  config: ~/.config/mise
  data: ~/.local/share/mise
  shims: ~/.local/share/mise/shims
  state: ~/.local/state/mise

config_files:
  ~/.config/mise/conf.d/default-opentofu.toml
  ~/.config/mise/mise.toml
  ~/Workspaces/gparera/repos/mise-repo/mise.toml

ignored_config_files: (none)

backends:
  aqua
  asdf
  cargo
  core
  dotnet
  gem
  github
  gitlab
  go
  npm
  pipx
  spm
  http
  ubi
  vfox

plugins:
  usage  https://github.com/jdx/mise-usage.git#fe3888a

toolset:
  aqua:opentofu/opentofu@1.9.2

path:
  ~/.local/share/mise/installs/opentofu/1.9.2
  ~/.sdkman/candidates/java/current/bin
  /opt/homebrew/Cellar/pyenv-virtualenv/1.2.4/shims
  ~/.pyenv/shims
  ~/.nvm/versions/node/v22.2.0/bin
  ~/.rd/bin
  ~/.go/bin
  ~/.bin
  ~/.dotfiles-public/bin
  ~/.dotfiles-public/bin
  /opt/homebrew/bin
  /usr/local/bin
  /System/Cryptexes/App/usr/bin
  /usr/bin
  /bin
  /usr/sbin
  /sbin
  /var/run/com.apple.security.cryptexd/codex.system/bootstrap/usr/local/bin
  /var/run/com.apple.security.cryptexd/codex.system/bootstrap/usr/bin
  /var/run/com.apple.security.cryptexd/codex.system/bootstrap/usr/appleinternal/bin
  /opt/X11/bin
  /Applications/Wireshark.app/Contents/MacOS
  /Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Public
  /Applications/Ghostty.app/Contents/MacOS

env_vars:
  MISE_SHELL=zsh

settings:

No problems found

With this config everything is fine. Version 1.9.2 is taken from local mise.toml file and used.

# mise list
Tool.         Version  Source                                                                            Requested
opentofu  1.9.0
opentofu  1.9.1
opentofu  1.9.2        ~/Workspaces/gparera/repos/mise-repo/mise.toml  1.9.2

# mise cfg
Path                                                                               Tools
~/.config/mise/conf.d/default-opentofu.toml             opentofu
~/.config/mise/mise.toml                                              opentofu
~/Workspaces/gparera/repos/mise-repo/mise.toml  opentofu

If local mise.toml is deleted then 1.9.1 from global config.toml is taken:

# mise list
Tool          Version  Source                                Requested
opentofu  1.9.0
opentofu  1.9.1        ~/.config/mise/mise.toml  1.9.1
opentofu  1.9.2

# mise cfg
Path                                                                    Tools
~/.config/mise/conf.d/default-opentofu.toml  opentofu
~/.config/mise/mise.toml                                   opentofu

Now if I set a global version it's written in mise.toml:

# mise use --global opentofu@1.9.2
mise ~/.config/mise/mise.toml tools: opentofu@1.9.2

Everything fine until this point. But if I remove .config/mise/mise.toml, default version from .config/mise/conf.d/default-opentofu.toml is loaded.

mise list
Tool          Version  Source                                                                 Requested
opentofu  1.9.0       ~/.config/mise/conf.d/default-opentofu.toml  1.9.0
opentofu  1.9.1
opentofu  1.9.2

The weird point is when I try to set a global version again from command line. It's wrote on ~/.config/mise/conf.d/default-opentofu.toml instead of ~/.config/mise/mise.toml:

# mise use --global opentofu@1.9.2
mise ~/.config/mise/conf.d/default-opentofu.toml tools: opentofu@1.9.2

If no files exist in ~/.config/mise/conf.d, then global version is set correctly in ~/.config/mise/mise.toml. mise use --global should use ~/.config/mise/mise.toml as specified in the man page, shouldn't it?

[jdx]

If no files exist in ~/.config/mise/conf.d, then global version is set correctly in ~/.config/mise/mise.toml. mise use --global should use ~/.config/mise/mise.toml as specified in the man page, shouldn't it?

yes, but it's probably easier said than done

[JamBalaya56562]

This is fixed on main — #11633 — and will ship in the next release.

To confirm your reading of it: yes, mise use --global should target the global config file, and -g --global documents that as ~/.config/mise/config.toml. A conf.d drop-in was never a valid write target.

Why it happened

global_config_path() picks the write target with first_config_file(), which deliberately skips conf.d entries while choosing — but falls back to the first candidate when nothing else qualifies. And the candidate list is built with conf.d entries inserted before the regular config filenames. So once ~/.config/mise/mise.toml was gone, "nothing else qualifies" was true and the fallback handed back conf.d/default-opentofu.toml.

That is also exactly why an empty conf.d behaved correctly, as you observed: with no drop-ins there was no wrong candidate to fall back to.

The fix is one predicate on the return value, so an unqualified candidate now falls through to MISE_GLOBAL_CONFIG_FILE if set, and otherwise to <config dir>/config.toml.

Two things worth knowing for your setup

Your working case is unchanged. ~/.config/mise/mise.toml is not a conf.d file, so it is still found directly and still wins — mise use --global opentofu@1.9.2 keeps writing there.

When no global config exists yet, the file created is config.toml, not mise.toml — the name mise use --help documents for --global. So in the state you reproduced (drop-ins present, no mise.toml), you will now get ~/.config/mise/config.toml. If you specifically want mise.toml, set MISE_GLOBAL_CONFIG_FILE.

What else the same change fixes

Every caller of global_config_path() is resolving a write target, so these were all diverting into a drop-in under the same conditions and are all fixed together:

• mise set --global
• mise settings set
• mise unuse --global
• mise edit

Reading is untouched — drop-ins are still discovered and loaded exactly as before. The filter only decides where writes go. e2e/cli/test_global_config_confd covers both halves: writes land in config.toml, the drop-in stays byte-for-byte intact, and it is still loaded before and after.