[QGIS-Developer] Using environment variables in QGIS.ini

[Bo Victor Thomsen]

Hi Thomas -

Your suggestion is actually pretty close to the solution I made -

  * Standard installation of QGIS with /standard/ .msi package.
  * After the QGIS installation and before QGIS is started the user do a
    one-time run a Python script from et central network drive -  using
    the Python interpreter installed together with QGIS  which:
      o Unzip a complete profile  with specific plugins and customized
        parameters from a central network based repository. This profile
        replaces the standard "default" profile.
      o Search/replace a couple of "tokenized" values in QGIS.ini with
        actual values based on username

The profile and tokenized QGIS.ini is prepared by the GIS administrator

The Python script is packaged in a .cmd file which is started by the user.

Not a perfect solution, but doable:

  * The It department is happy: No work doing specialized installations
  * The GIS administrator is happy. It's a one-time piece of work for
    each QGIS version to  prepare the profile and tokenize the QGIS.ini
  * The user is - somewhat - happy. To finish the installation is simply
    to double-click once on a file placed in a "highly visible" location.
  * Any subsequent mistakes made by the user (Installation of dodgy
    plugins, strange changes in setups ....) is easily repaired by
    running the Python script again.


Med venlig hilsen / Kind regards

Bo Victor Thomsen

Den 12-07-2021 kl. 03:14 skrev Thomas Gratier:
> Hi,
>
> I'm not aware QSettings provided by Qt can do it. Your %APPDATA% is 
> not portable as would only work on Windows
>
> You can always try generate the QGIS.ini file using a templating system
>
> File QGIS.ini.j2 with following content
>
> Configuration\MODELS_FOLDER={{APPDATA}}\\QGIS\\QGIS3\\profiles\\default\\processing\\models
> Configuration\SCRIPTS_FOLDERS={{APPDATA}}\\QGIS\\QGIS3\\profiles\\default\\processing\\scripts
>
>
> File generate_ini.py with following content
>
> import os
> import jinja2
>
> templateLoader = jinja2.FileSystemLoader(searchpath="./")
> templateEnv = jinja2.Environment(loader=templateLoader)
> TEMPLATE_FILE = "QGIS.ini.j2"
> template = templateEnv.get_template(TEMPLATE_FILE)
> mydict = {
>     "APPDATA": os.environ.get("APPDATA")
> }
> outputText = template.render(**mydict)
> with open('QGIS.ini', 'w') as outputfile:
>     outputfile.write(outputText)
>
> Then, to write your QGIS.ini file, do
>
>
> python3 generate_ini.py
>
>
> The possible deal breakers with this approach are:
> - you depend from jinja2, a third party Python library,
> - you can't later reuse the mechanism if for instance QGIS changes the 
> QGIS.ini file later on
>
>
> Regards
>
> Thomas
>
>
> Le mar. 6 juil. 2021 à 09:18, Bo Victor Thomsen 
> <bo.victor.thomsen at gmail.com <mailto:bo.victor.thomsen at gmail.com>> a 
> écrit :
>
>     To the list -
>
>     Is there a method to use OS (Linux, Windows...) environment
>     variables in the QGIS.ini setup file ?
>
>     I had a number of customers asking for a method to "generalize"
>     QGIS.ini, so it doesn't contain any "user" specific file and
>     directory references, i.e
>
>     (From qgis.ini)
>
>     Configuration\MODELS_FOLDER=*C:\\Users\\Bo Victor
>     Thomsen\\AppData\\Roaming*\\QGIS\\QGIS3\\profiles\\default\\processing\\models
>     Configuration\SCRIPTS_FOLDERS=*C:\\Users\\Bo Victor
>     Thomsen\\AppData\\Roaming*\\QGIS\\QGIS3\\profiles\\default\\processing\\scripts
>
>     could be:
>
>     Configuration\MODELS_FOLDER=*%APPDATA%*\\QGIS\\QGIS3\\profiles\\default\\processing\\models
>     Configuration\SCRIPTS_FOLDERS=*%APPDATA%*\\QGIS\\QGIS3\\profiles\\default\\processing\\scripts
>
>     or likewise.
>
>     The ultimate reason is to have a method to distribute a "standard"
>     setup for QGIS, complete with plugins and specialized setup
>     parameters. This can be done by making a standard QGIS
>     installation (which the IT departments love, especially with the
>     new .msi package) and afterwards replace the "default" profile
>     directory with at  directory specific for the organisation.
>     However, the process of making the new profile will place a lot of
>     file/directory references in QGIS.ini that is specific for the
>     super-user developing the new profile.
>
>     -- 
>     Med venlig hilsen / Kind regards
>
>     Bo Victor Thomsen
>
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