Is a remote default a good idea? If so can I change the prompt?

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1

I followed the Extreme $HOME makeover to:

  • create my default environment
  • store it on FloxHub
  • always activate it in .bashrc

So far so good! But now when I launch a terminal I get:

flox [lofidevops/default (remote)] user@machine:~$

Rather than just

flox [default] user@machine:~$

There is also a noticeable pause every time a launch a new terminal, which I assume is flox pinging FloxHub for updates? I really like the idea of sharing my default environment between machines (that is my motivation to use flox) but this seems like a big tradeoff. I’d be happy to pull on demand.

Are other people using remote defaults or is it currently experimental? Assuming I can fix the pause, is there some way to adjust the unwieldy prompt?

2

I definitely use a remote environment for my default but if you want faster activate performance it is currently faster to flox pull in your home directory and then eval the flox activate (in your ~ directory) to that so you have a cache and don’t have to wait for the upstream check.

this is something we should address: repeat flox activate -r fetches updates lazily · Issue #1976 · flox/flox · GitHub

you can disable the prompt in flox config and, specifically for default environments, disable it only for the default. checkout the hide-default option in flox config - Flox Docs

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