[stored] automatically save input history by default

[midichef]

Small description
if visidata_dir does not exist, input history does not persist between vd sessions: vd --visidata-dir=nonexistent

Expected result
I expect the directory to be created automatically, and the history to be saved to a file in it.

Actual result with screenshot
visidata_dir is not created.

However, not creating it, is consistent with the behavior of macros.py in the same situation. It only gives a warning and does not create the directory.

visidata/visidata/macros.py

Line 112 in a44c9ff

vd.fail(f'create {vd.options.visidata_dir} to save macros')

Additional context
visidata v3.1dev

If we were going to create the directory, this seems to be the place to do it:

visidata/visidata/stored_list.py

Line 16 in a44c9ff

if vdpath.exists():

[anjakefala]

Thanks for opening an issue! I'm planning to open a Discussion topic this week on people's preferred approaches. We wanted to see how other terminal tools also handled this. (Some users can be concerned about unexpected file creation outside of .cache or /tmp.)

[saulpw]

Hey @midichef, thanks for bringing this up. As @anjakefala mentioned, I've been hesitant to create a .visidata directory by default, and it looks like setup.py and other installation methods can't create files outside of the package directory, so we can't have distro packages make the choice and set it up for us. Currently, as you've noticed, the input history feature is gated on this directory existing (whereas previously it required an option to be set in .visidatarc).

We have a few options:

1. Revert to requiring options.input_history to be set; we could maybe create a .visidata directory if that option is set and the directory doesn't exist.
2. Document that the way to enable this feature, is simply to create the .visidata directory;
3. Always create the .visidata directory, letting go of our policy of not writing to the filesystem by default. (I think @geekscrapy or @sfranky might have a preference against this?)

Which of these seems reasonable? Are there other options we could consider?

[geekscrapy]

My 2 cents!

• creating the .visidata dir by default is fine, as long as either it is in the users home, or wherever the user has explicitly set. This way permissions around the files are controlled and can be predicted
• another option would allow the input history option to take a absolute path on its own (if it doesn't already which I think it does), otherwise it should be documented that it is relative to the users home dir (or .visidata dir, or something else that makes sense)
• bash stores history by default, visidata could too

[sfranky]

I heard my name, was it by accident, or was i following the issue? :P
I like all options !!

[saulpw]

Okay, I've pushed this change, hopefully it makes it nicer for new users. The -N CLI flag should prevent it.