Merge pull request #5191 from ktetzlaff/config-edit--prefer-visual-over-editor

Prefer VISUAL environment variable over EDITOR (for e.g. `beet config -e`)

beets/ui/commands.py

@@ -2371,7 +2371,9 @@ def config_edit():
     except OSError as exc:
         message = f"Could not edit configuration: {exc}"
         if not editor:
-            message += ". Please set the EDITOR environment variable"
+            message += (
+                ". Please set the VISUAL (or EDITOR) environment variable"
+            )
         raise ui.UserError(message)
 
 
@@ -2386,7 +2388,7 @@ config_cmd.parser.add_option(
     "-e",
     "--edit",
     action="store_true",
-    help="edit user configuration with $EDITOR",
+    help="edit user configuration with $VISUAL (or $EDITOR)",
 )
 config_cmd.parser.add_option(
     "-d",

beets/util/__init__.py

@@ -978,14 +978,14 @@ def open_anything() -> str:
 def editor_command() -> str:
     """Get a command for opening a text file.
 
-    Use the `EDITOR` environment variable by default. If it is not
-    present, fall back to `open_anything()`, the platform-specific tool
-    for opening files in general.
+    First try environment variable `VISUAL` followed by `EDITOR`. As last resort
+    fall back to `open_anything()`, the platform-specific tool for opening files
+    in general.
+
     """
-    editor = os.environ.get("EDITOR")
-    if editor:
-        return editor
-    return open_anything()
+    return (
+        os.environ.get("VISUAL") or os.environ.get("EDITOR") or open_anything()
+    )
 
 
 def interactive_open(targets: Sequence[str], command: str):

docs/changelog.rst

@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ Major new features:
 
 New features:
 
+* :doc:`/plugins/edit`: Prefer editor from ``VISUAL`` environment variable over ``EDITOR``.
+* :ref:`config-cmd`: Prefer editor from ``VISUAL`` environment variable over ``EDITOR``.
 * :doc:`/plugins/listenbrainz`: Add initial support for importing history and playlists from `ListenBrainz`
   :bug:`1719`
 * :doc:`plugins/mbsubmit`: add new prompt choices helping further to submit unmatched tracks to MusicBrainz faster.

docs/plugins/edit.rst

@@ -9,9 +9,9 @@ then type::
 
      beet edit QUERY
 
-Your text editor (i.e., the command in your ``$EDITOR`` environment variable)
-will open with a list of tracks to edit. Make your changes and exit your text
-editor to apply them to your music.
+Your text editor (i.e., the command in your ``$VISUAL`` or ``$EDITOR``
+environment variable) will open with a list of tracks to edit. Make your changes
+and exit your text editor to apply them to your music.
 
 Command-Line Options
 --------------------

docs/reference/cli.rst

@@ -444,9 +444,9 @@ Show or edit the user configuration. This command does one of three things:
 * By default, sensitive information like passwords is removed when dumping the
   configuration. The ``--clear`` option includes this sensitive data.
 * With the ``--edit`` option, beets attempts to open your config file for
-  editing. It first tries the ``$EDITOR`` environment variable and then a
-  fallback option depending on your platform: ``open`` on OS X, ``xdg-open``
-  on Unix, and direct invocation on Windows.
+  editing. It first tries the ``$EDITOR`` environment variable, followed by
+  ``$EDITOR`` and then a fallback option depending on your platform: ``open`` on
+  OS X, ``xdg-open`` on Unix, and direct invocation on Windows.
 
 
 .. _global-flags:

test/test_config_command.py

@@ -15,8 +15,9 @@ class ConfigCommandTest(unittest.TestCase, TestHelper):
     def setUp(self):
         self.lib = Library(":memory:")
         self.temp_dir = mkdtemp()
-        if "EDITOR" in os.environ:
-            del os.environ["EDITOR"]
+        for k in ("VISUAL", "EDITOR"):
+            if k in os.environ:
+                del os.environ[k]
 
         os.environ["BEETSDIR"] = self.temp_dir
         self.config_path = os.path.join(self.temp_dir, "config.yaml")
@@ -90,12 +91,22 @@ class ConfigCommandTest(unittest.TestCase, TestHelper):
         self.assertEqual(len(paths), 3)
         self.assertEqual(paths[0], self.cli_config_path)
 
-    def test_edit_config_with_editor_env(self):
+    def test_edit_config_with_visual_or_editor_env(self):
         os.environ["EDITOR"] = "myeditor"
         with patch("os.execlp") as execlp:
             self.run_command("config", "-e")
         execlp.assert_called_once_with("myeditor", "myeditor", self.config_path)
 
+        os.environ["VISUAL"] = ""  # empty environment variables gets ignored
+        with patch("os.execlp") as execlp:
+            self.run_command("config", "-e")
+        execlp.assert_called_once_with("myeditor", "myeditor", self.config_path)
+
+        os.environ["VISUAL"] = "myvisual"
+        with patch("os.execlp") as execlp:
+            self.run_command("config", "-e")
+        execlp.assert_called_once_with("myvisual", "myvisual", self.config_path)
+
     def test_edit_config_with_automatic_open(self):
         with patch("beets.util.open_anything") as open:
             open.return_value = "please_open"