Particular bash completion files not working when in /usr/share/bash-completion/completions but work fine in /etc/bash_completion.d

Question

I have a git repository where I keep some statically-linked binaries along with related man files and bash completion files, which are all 'installed' using GNU Stow to make the symlinks.

I have previously put the symlinks for the bash completion files in /etc/bash_completion.d with no issues, but recently I have started putting them in /usr/share/bash-completion/completions instead, as I thought it was a more correct location for them, seeing as the binaries were going in /usr/local/bin and the man files in /usr/local/share/man.

Everything works as before apart from four specific bash completion files, which are no longer working when placed in this new location. These are:

• git-identity.bash-completion
• tmux.completion.bash

And these two for fzf:

• completion.bash
• key-bindings.bash

I have 20 other bash completion files that work fine. What is it about these specific bash completion files that make them work while in /etc/bash_completion.d with no issues but not in /usr/share/bash-completion/completions?

EDIT: They also don't work in ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions either.

---

Additional information:

The files are sourced by the standard Debian/Ubuntu .bashrc lines:

# Enable programmable completion features
if ! shopt -oq posix; then
  if [ -f /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion ]; then
    . /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion
  elif [ -f /etc/bash_completion ]; then
    . /etc/bash_completion
  fi
fi

In both locations it is not the contents on directories are that being sourced, but these two files:

/usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion

/etc/bash_completion

The second file simply points to the first file if NOT shopt -oq posix. On my setup:

$ if ! shopt -oq posix; then echo "not posix"; fi
not posix

I think the answer must be in /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion.

---

More:

I tried replacing bash_completion with the latest version but that doesn't work either.

https://github.com/scop/bash-completion

Also..

These files do not work when placed in ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions either.

Answer 1

Completion files in /etc/bash_completion.d are always sourced immediately by bash_completion for backwards compatibility. The completions directories, on the other hand, lazily source the scripts inside, that is, a particular completion file isn't sourced until completion is requested for that command. The file to source is determined by its name, thus it must have the same name as the command you're trying to get completions for. So, for example, tmux.completion.bash should be symlinked as completions/tmux and not completions/tmux.completion.bash.

Finally, as you're putting everything else under /usr/local, note that you can put the completion scripts there as well: /usr/local/share/bash-completion/completions.