3.24 user -- User-specific configuration hook
Keywords: lib

# 3.24 `user` -- User-specific configuration hook

As a policy, Python doesn't run user-specified code on startup of Python programs. (Only interactive sessions execute the script specified in the $PYTHONSTARTUP environment variable if it exists).

However, some programs or sites may find it convenient to allow users to have a standard customization file, which gets run when a program requests it. This module implements such a mechanism. A program that wishes to use the mechanism must execute the statement

      import user

The `user` module looks for a file .pythonrc.py in the user's home directory and if it can be opened, executes it (using `execfile()`) in its own (i.e. the module `user`'s) global namespace. Errors during this phase are not caught; that's up to the program that imports the `user` module, if it wishes. The home directory is assumed to be named by the $HOME environment variable; if this is not set, the current directory is used.

The user's .pythonrc.py could conceivably test for `sys.version` if it wishes to do different things depending on the Python version.

A warning to users: be very conservative in what you place in your .pythonrc.py file. Since you don't know which programs will use it, changing the behavior of standard modules or functions is generally not a good idea.

A suggestion for programmers who wish to use this mechanism: a simple way to let users specify options for your package is to have them define variables in their .pythonrc.py file that you test in your module. For example, a module `spam` that has a verbosity level can look for a variable `user.spam_verbose`, as follows:

      import user
      try:
          verbose = user.spam_verbose  # user's verbosity preference
      except AttributeError:
          verbose = 0                  # default verbosity

Programs with extensive customization needs are better off reading a program-specific customization file.

Programs with security or privacy concerns should not import this module; a user can easily break into a program by placing arbitrary code in the .pythonrc.py file.

Modules for general use should not import this module; it may interfere with the operation of the importing program.

See Also:

Module `site`:
  site-wide customization mechanism.