;doc: more LEDGER_FILE platform notes

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Simon Michael 2021-12-08 16:57:33 -10:00
parent e76cb1ae8c
commit b0763677b1

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@ -222,22 +222,35 @@ m4_dnl A standard description of the LEDGER_FILE environment variable.
m4_define({{_LEDGER_FILE_}}, {{
**LEDGER_FILE**
The journal file path when not specified with `-f`.
Default: `~/.hledger.journal` (on windows, perhaps `C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal`).
A typical value is `~/DIR/YYYY.journal`, where DIR is a version-controlled finance directory
and YYYY is the current year. Or `~/DIR/current.journal`, where current.journal is a symbolic
link to YYYY.journal.
On unix computers, the default value is: `~/.hledger.journal`.
On Mac computers, you can set this and other environment variables in a more thorough way
that also affects applications started from the GUI (say, an Emacs dock icon).
Eg on MacOS Catalina I have a `~/.MacOSX/environment.plist` file containing
A more typical value is something like `~/finance/YYYY.journal`,
where `~/finance` is a version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the current year.
Or, `~/finance/current.journal`, where current.journal is a symbolic link to YYYY.journal.
The usual way to set this permanently is to add a command to one of your shell's startup files
(eg `~/.profile`):
```
export LEDGER_FILE=~/finance/current.journal`
```
On some Mac computers, there is a more thorough way to set environment variables,
that will also affect applications started from the GUI (eg, Emacs started from a dock icon):
In `~/.MacOSX/environment.plist`, add an entry like:
```
{
"LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/current.journal"
}
```
To see the effect you may need to `killall Dock`, or reboot.
For this to take effect you might need to `killall Dock`, or reboot.
On Windows computers, the default value is probably `C:\Users\MyUserName\.hledger.journal`.
You can change this by running a command like this in a powershell window:
```
> setx LEDGER_FILE "C:\Users\MyUserName\finance\2021.journal"
```
(Let us know if you need to be an Administrator, and if this persists across a reboot.)
}} )m4_dnl
m4_dnl