Using environment variables with PhotoStructure

September 11, 2020

You can use environment variables to configure PhotoStructure’s settings. The defaults.env file describes all of PhotoStructure’s settings, and how to change each with an environment variable. This file will also be found in your root app directory (from version 0.9.0 and later) if you’re using a PhotoStructure for Servers edition.

Notes #

You can edit your settings.toml and set environment variables.
Environment variables always override any values found in settings.toml.
PhotoStructure only reads from settings.toml files.
PhotoStructure does not read from a defaults.env file or .env files. It’s up to you to source any environment variables into your shell.

Environment variable overrides and settings.toml values don’t mix #

PhotoStructure does not write environment variables overrides to your settings.toml files.

This is actually by design: previous versions of PhotoStructure didn’t discriminate between settings.toml values and environment variable overrides. As an example, if you had set PS_LOG_LEVEL=debug and then saved your settings via the web UI, that debug value would get persisted and become the new default log level.

This behavior was surprising and confusing to most beta users. Thanks to the principle of least astonishment, we decided that this was a “bug,” not a “feature,” and changed PhotoStructure to keep environment variable overrides separated from values stored in the settings.toml files.

Boolean settings #

Boolean settings interpret either true or 1 as true, and false or 0 for false.

For example:

PS_VERIFY_FILE_COPIES=true

Converting between settings names and environment variable names #

To avoid name-colliding with other software, all PhotoStructure environment variables are prefixed with PS_ and converted to UPPER_SNAKE_CASE.

Examples #

The PS_LOG_LEVEL environment variable overrides the logLevel setting.
The PS_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable overrides the libraryPath setting.

Caution: upgrades to your environment variables are not automatic #

When you upgrade to a new version of PhotoStructure, your prior settings.toml files are automatically migrated to contain the settings (and defaults) of the new version, while retaining your custom configurations.

We can’t do this for environment variables, though, as we don’t know where your environment variables are coming from, as they can be set in many different ways.

If you’re using environment variables, it’s up to you to review our release notes and make suitable settings changes when you upgrade. We mark any settings that are deleted, renamed, or have changed semantics with a 💔.

It also might be helpful to look at differences between version tags on github.

How to set environment variables #

It’s up to you to copy, modify, and source the contents into the shell that starts your PhotoStructure process.

macOS (desktop) #

If you’re using PhotoStructure for Desktops on macOS, you can set environment variables with launchctl setenv.

To disable video transcoding, for example, open a terminal and run:

launchctl setenv PS_TRANSCODE_VIDEOS false

To get the current value, use launchctl getenv:

launchctl getenv PS_TRANSCODE_VIDEOS

To unset (and use PhotoStructure’s default), use launchctl unsetenv:

launchctl unsetenv PS_TRANSCODE_VIDEOS

Linux and macOS (server) #

Add environment variables to the relevant rc script for your shell. If you’re using bash, that’s ~/.profile:

export PS_LOG_LEVEL=info

Windows #

Hit the Windows key, and type “environment”,
select “Edit the system environment vairables” control panel,
click the Environment Variables... button in the bottom right, and
click the top New... button. Pick the top New... button if you’re using PhotoStructure for Desktops. If you’re running PhotoStructure as a system service, pick the bottom New... button.

Docker #

With docker, use the docker run --env option:

docker run docker run --name photostructure --env PS_LOG_LEVEL=info ...

With docker-compose, use the environment configuration option:

...
    environment:
      - "PS_LOG_LEVEL=info"
...