Unable to add file with chezmoi

[shadycuz]

Describe the bug

I'm trying to add a file to chezmoi, the file does not get added and no error is returned.

To reproduce

shadycuz@La-Laptop-wsl:~$ touch ~/.desktop
shadycuz@La-Laptop-wsl:~$ chezmoi add ~/.desktop
shadycuz@La-Laptop-wsl:~$ chezmoi edit ~/.desktop
chezmoi: .desktop: not in source state
shadycuz@La-Laptop-wsl:~$ chezmoi cd
shadycuz@La-Laptop-wsl:~/.local/share/chezmoi$ ls
dot_bashrc  run_once_setup.sh.tmpl
shadycuz@La-Laptop-wsl:~/.local/share/chezmoi$ exit
shadycuz@La-Laptop-wsl:~$ chezmoi -v add ~/.desktop
shadycuz@La-Laptop-wsl:~$ echo $?
0

Expected behavior

I expected that my new file would be added to the .local/share/chezmoi directory and ready to be worked on.

Output of command with the --verbose flag

Nothing

Output of chezmoi doctor

shadycuz@La-Laptop-wsl:~$ chezmoi doctor
RESULT   CHECK                MESSAGE
ok       version              v2.17.1, commit 565cbbe117746aa6bfec5f2cee20ae4cbbb5e645, built at 2022-05-30T10:24:34Z, built by goreleaser
ok       latest-version       v2.17.1
ok       os-arch              linux/amd64 (Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish))
ok       uname                Linux La-Laptop-wsl 5.10.102.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2 #1 SMP Wed Mar 2 00:30:59 UTC 2022 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
ok       go-version           go1.18.2 (gc)
ok       executable           ~/bin/chezmoi
ok       upgrade-method       replace-executable
ok       config-file          no config file found
ok       source-dir           ~/.local/share/chezmoi is a directory
ok       suspicious-entries   no suspicious entries
ok       working-tree         ~/.local/share/chezmoi is a directory
ok       dest-dir             ~ is a directory
ok       shell-command        found /bin/bash
ok       shell-args           /bin/bash
ok       cd-command           found /bin/bash
ok       cd-args              /bin/bash
ok       edit-command         found /usr/bin/vi
ok       edit-args            /usr/bin/vi
info     diff-command         not set
ok       umask                002
ok       git-command          found /usr/bin/git, version 2.34.1
ok       merge-command        found /usr/bin/vimdiff
info     age-command          age not found in $PATH
ok       gpg-command          found /usr/bin/gpg, version 2.2.27
info     pinentry-command     not set
info     1password-command    op not found in $PATH
info     bitwarden-command    bw not found in $PATH
info     gopass-command       gopass not found in $PATH
info     keepassxc-command    keepassxc-cli not found in $PATH
info     keeper-command       keeper not found in $PATH
info     keepassxc-db         not set
info     lastpass-command     lpass not found in $PATH
info     pass-command         pass not found in $PATH
info     vault-command        vault not found in $PATH
info     secret-command       not set

Additional context

It appears that it works if the file has contents.

shadycuz@La-Laptop-wsl:~$ echo "foo" > .desktop
shadycuz@La-Laptop-wsl:~$ chezmoi -v add .desktop
diff --git a/dot_desktop b/dot_desktop
new file mode 100664
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..257cc5642cb1a054f08cc83f2d943e56fd3ebe99
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dot_desktop
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+foo

Should I open a PR that adds a chezmoi touch command? I would really like to contribute =)

[twpayne]

By default, chezmoi removes files whose target contents are empty, unless they have the empty_ attribute. As ~/.desktop is empty, chezmoi add doesn't add it. The following does work:

$ touch ~/.desktop
$ chezmoi add --empty ~/.desktop
$ ls $(chezmoi source-path ~/.desktop)
$HOME/.local/share/chezmoi/home/empty_dot_desktop

Thanks for the offer of contributing. I don't think a chezmoi touch command is needed, but some improved documentation about the empty_ attribute would be appreciated.

[shadycuz]

Ahh I see, --empty flag.

Make sense, what if we add extra output for add when an empty file is passed but not the --empty flag?

Something like:

$ touch ~/.foo
$ chezmoi add ~/.foo
Do you really want to add an empty file? Use 'chezmoi add --empty $FILE'

Because while a documentation chage might help, I would rather have the program nudge me in the right direction.

[twpayne]

Hmmm, on reflection I think that chezmoi add not adding empty files is counter-intuitive behavior. #2161 makes chezmoi add add empty files (and adds the empty_ attribute if needed) and removes the --empty flag.