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I want all users of nano to have tabsize 4 instead of the default 8. What is the best way to achieve this? I would prefer a file that overrides /etc/nanorc at the system level so I don't have to maintain separate user nanorc's for this purpose. In the simple case, my override would only need to contain:

set tabsize 4

Here's another way to state my question: Does nano recognize /etc/nanorc.d/ and config files placed therein? If so, what is the required naming and/ content of config files placed there?

What I tried so far was to create /etc/nanorc.d/ and place a file named tabsize.conf in that directory and put only the following contents in the file:

set tabsize 4

My naive attempt did not work, but I am hoping there is a way to use this config.d/ pattern with nano.

I will make my question even more specific. I am using Arch Linux. I have do do these steps when the package has a new nanorc:

mv /etc/nanorc.pacnew /etc/nanorc

Then edit /etc/nanorc, search for tabsize, uncomment the line, change the value from 8 to 4 and save the file.

My goal is to only have to do this step:

mv /etc/nanorc.pacnew /etc/nanorc

And to have a file similar to /etc/nanorc.d/tabsize.conf that contains my desired tab size. It's a small savings of time, but multiplied across a number of computers it adds up. This year it seems like I have gotten new /etc/nanorc.pacnew files about six times. It is very inefficient to keep editing tabsize over and over.

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  • Isn't a solution modifying /etc/nanorc? – Ipor Sircer Sep 27 '18 at 0:51
  • @IporSircer no, because /etc/nanorc gets over-written on package updates and I am constantly having to edit it to once again set tabsize 4. I'm trying to avoid that. – MountainX for Monica Cellio Sep 27 '18 at 1:49
  • Any custom settings to files in /etc won't be overwritten on upgrades by default, unless you have force it with switches. This is how every distribution works. – Ipor Sircer Sep 27 '18 at 1:51
  • @IporSircer of course. Sorry I wasn't clear. It's the manual work I am trying to avoid. I wish to be able to simply use the packager's version of the updated nanorc without having to repeat my customization every time. It's a common pattern for many packages, and I am asking if there is a way to achieve the same thing with nano. – MountainX for Monica Cellio Sep 27 '18 at 2:46
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    Again: this is how a distribution works. Configuration of Apache, Proftpd, Squid, Mysql and any other programs store their huge config files in /etc, and sysadmins do upgrades without problems. In Debian you can set triggers which are activated after a specific package was installed. You can make a custom trigger to append one line to /etc/nanorc on every updates. This is the clean way. – Ipor Sircer Sep 27 '18 at 2:50
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So /etc/nanorc.pacnew is the new rc file that came with the new distribution upgrade? How about

sed '/tabsize/ {s/^# *//; s/[0-9]*$/4/}' /etc/nanorc.pacnew > /etc/nanorc

, then?

Another possible trick might be to have a symbolic link ~/.nanorc in every user's home dir pointing to a central file with the relevant commands.

on demand:

sed '/tabsize/              # if the line matches "tabsize"
{s/^# *//;                  # remove "#" and trailing spaces from begin-of-line (BOL)
s/[0-9]*$/4/                # substitute any sequence of digits at EOL by "4"
}' /etc/nanorc.pacnew       # input file
> /etc/nanorc               # redirection to target file
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  • I like both suggestions. I'll probably use sed. Can you walk me through the sed command? Also, the .pacnew (the file that came with the new package upgrade) contains this line: #set tabsize 8 with an initial comment character and possibly variable white space. It needs to be transformed into set tabsize 4 without the comment. – MountainX for Monica Cellio Sep 27 '18 at 10:04
  • UPDATE: I tested your sed solution and it works perfectly. Thanks. Just wish I understood it better. – MountainX for Monica Cellio Sep 27 '18 at 10:08
  • added explanation. – RudiC Sep 27 '18 at 14:56

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