ENH: do not automatically create a yt configuration file

yt/config.py

@@ -1,7 +1,4 @@
 import os
-import warnings
-
-import toml
 
 from yt.utilities.configure import YTConfig, config_dir, configuration_callbacks
 
@@ -68,15 +65,6 @@
 _global_config_file = YTConfig.get_global_config_file()
 _local_config_file = YTConfig.get_local_config_file()
 
-if not os.path.exists(_global_config_file):
-    cfg = {"yt": {}}  # type: ignore
-    try:
-        with open(_global_config_file, mode="w") as fd:
-            toml.dump(cfg, fd)
-    except OSError:
-        warnings.warn("unable to write new config file")
-
-
 # Load the config
 ytcfg = YTConfig()
 ytcfg.update(ytcfg_defaults, metadata={"source": "defaults"})

yt/fields/tests/test_fields_plugins.py

@@ -4,8 +4,9 @@
 import unittest
 
 import yt
-from yt.config import YTConfig, config_dir, ytcfg
+from yt.config import ytcfg
 from yt.testing import assert_raises, fake_random_ds
+from yt.utilities.configure import YTConfig, config_dir
 
 _TEST_PLUGIN = "_test_plugin.py"
 
@@ -35,6 +36,7 @@ class TestPluginFile(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUpClass(cls):
         cls.xdg_config_home = os.environ.get("XDG_CONFIG_HOME")
         cls.tmpdir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+        os.mkdir(os.path.join(cls.tmpdir, "yt"))
         os.environ["XDG_CONFIG_HOME"] = cls.tmpdir
         with open(YTConfig.get_global_config_file(), mode="w") as fh:
             fh.write(_DUMMY_CFG_TOML)

yt/utilities/command_line.py

@@ -1330,6 +1330,7 @@ def load_config(self, args):
         elif getattr(args, "global", False):
             config_file = global_config_file
         else:
+            config_file: Optional[str] = None
             if local_exists and global_exists:
                 s = (
                     "Yt detected a local and a global configuration file, refusing "
@@ -1347,14 +1348,15 @@ def load_config(self, args):
                 sys.exit(s)
             elif local_exists:
                 config_file = local_config_file
-            else:
+            elif global_exists:
                 config_file = global_config_file
-            sys.stderr.write(f"INFO: using configuration file: {config_file}.\n")
-
-        if not os.path.exists(config_file):
-            with open(config_file, "w") as f:
-                f.write("[yt]\n")
 
+            if config_file is None:
+                print("WARNING: no configuration file installed.", file=sys.stderr)
+            else:
+                print(
+                    f"INFO: reading configuration file: {config_file}", file=sys.stderr
+                )
         CONFIG.read(config_file)
 
         self.config_file = config_file
@@ -1407,7 +1409,12 @@ def __call__(self, args):
         from yt.utilities.configure import set_config
 
         self.load_config(args)
-
+        if self.config_file is None:
+            self.config_file = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), "yt.toml")
+            print(
+                f"INFO: configuration will be written to {self.config_file}",
+                file=sys.stderr,
+            )
         set_config(args.section, args.option, args.value, self.config_file)
 
 

yt/utilities/configure.py

@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import os
-import warnings
 from types import FunctionType
 from typing import List
 
@@ -16,12 +15,6 @@ def config_dir():
         "XDG_CONFIG_HOME", os.path.join(os.path.expanduser("~"), ".config")
     )
     conf_dir = os.path.join(config_root, "yt")
-
-    if not os.path.exists(conf_dir):
-        try:
-            os.makedirs(conf_dir)
-        except OSError:
-            warnings.warn("unable to create yt config directory")
     return conf_dir
 
 

yt/utilities/tests/test_config.py

@@ -50,13 +50,20 @@ def setUp(self):
         self.xdg_config_home = os.environ.get("XDG_CONFIG_HOME")
         self.tmpdir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
         os.environ["XDG_CONFIG_HOME"] = self.tmpdir
+        os.mkdir(os.path.join(self.tmpdir, "yt"))
+
+        # run inside another temporary directory to avoid poluting the
+        # local space when we dump configuration to a local yt.toml file
+        self.origin = os.getcwd()
+        os.chdir(tempfile.mkdtemp())
 
     def tearDown(self):
         shutil.rmtree(self.tmpdir)
         if self.xdg_config_home:
             os.environ["XDG_CONFIG_HOME"] = self.xdg_config_home
         else:
             os.environ.pop("XDG_CONFIG_HOME")
+        os.chdir(self.origin)
 
     def _runYTConfig(self, args):
         args = ["yt", "config"] + args
@@ -138,6 +145,7 @@ def remove_spaces_and_breaks(s):
     def tearDown(self):
         if os.path.exists(YTConfig.get_global_config_file()):
             os.remove(YTConfig.get_global_config_file())
+        super().tearDown()
 
 
 class TestYTConfigGlobalLocal(TestYTConfig):