ckanext-editable-config

Edit CKAN configuration in runtime.

This plugin registers a set of API action for overriding config options and applying the changes to application without restarting the web server.

Example

Change application's title:

• from Python:

  tk.get_action("editable_config_update")(
    {"ignore_auth": True},
    {
      "change": {
        "ckan.site_title": "Updated title"
      },
    },
  )
  

• from CLI:

  ckanapi action editable_config_update change:'{"ckan.site_title": "Updated via ckanapi"}'
  

• from browser:

  await fetch("/api/action/editable_config_update", {
    method: "POST",
    body: JSON.stringify({change: {"ckan.site_title": "Updated from JS"}}),
    headers: {"content-type": "application/json"},
  })
  

Content

• Requirements
• Installation
• Usage
• Config settings
• API actions
• Troubleshooting

Requirements

Compatibility with core CKAN versions:

Installation

To install ckanext-editable-config:

1. Install the extension:

   pip install ckanext-editable-config
   

2. Add editable_config to the ckan.plugins.

Usage

All the config options declared with the editable: true flag can be overriden when the plugin is enabled. Every time the option is updated, it's new value passed to the declared validators of the option. If any validator raises an error, no changes happen. As long as option has proper validators configured, it's safe to change its value.

There are 3 types of changes:

• change: option gets a new value.
• revert: option gets its previous value. For example, ckan.site_title intially has the value CKAN. Then you applied a change to it, setting title to Updated title. revert will set ckan.site_title back to CKAN. revert itself is a change, so double-revert doesn't change anything. It's not like CTRL+Z, rather it just swaps current and previous values. Only the latest and one before the latest changes are kept.
• reset: remove all customizations from the config option and reset it to the state defined in the config file.

The only action you really need to remember is editable_config_update. It accepts 3 collections:

• change: dictionary with option names and their new values
• revert: list of options that will be reverted
• reset: list of options that will be reset to the state of config file.

For example, if you want to change the value of the site title to Updated title, revert site description to the previous value(whatever it was) and reset all customizations of the About page, call the editable_config_update:

tk.get_action("editable_config_update")(
    {"ignore_auth": True},
    {
        "change": {"ckan.site_title": "Updated title"},
        "revert": ["ckan.site_description"],
        "reset": ["ckan.site_about"],
    },
)

Note: all actions require sysadmin access.

Check API actions and troubleshooting sections below if you need something more sophisticated.

Config settings

# Additional options that can be changed via API even if they don't have
# `editable` flag enabled. Use it only when you are sure that changinging the
# option value won't break the application. For example, adding
# `ckan.datasets_per_page` here is relatively safe, because it is validated
# as an integer(but it's not 100% safe, because it's possible to assign
# negative number to this option and validators won't complain).
# (optional, default: )
ckanext.editable_config.options.extra_editable = ckan.datasets_per_page ckan.auth.user_create_groups

# Narrow down the list of editable config options. If this option is not
# empty, only `editable` options that are listed here can be changed via API.
# Attempt to change any other option, disregarding its `editable` flag, will
# cause a validation error.
# (optional, default: )
ckanext.editable_config.options.whitelist = ckan.site_title ckan.site_description

# Disable `editable` flag for the specified options. It's not possible to
# change the value of option mentioned here, even if it's `editable`.
# (optional, default: )
ckanext.editable_config.options.blacklist = ckan.site_title ckan.site_description

# Minimal number of seconds between two consequent change detection cycles.
# Basically, if you set 60 as a value, plugin will check config chnages once
# in a minute. In this way you can reduce number of DB queries and avoid
# unnecesarry checks when static files are served by CKAN.  Note, these
# queries are pretty fast(1ms), so you won't notice any significant
# performance improvement by setting any non-zero value here. And it means
# that any config overrides applied by API actions may not be visible
# immediately - you'll have to wait `charge_timeout` seconds in worst case.
# (optional, default: 0)
ckanext.editable_config.charge_timeout = 10

# Additional validators that are used when config option overrides are
# applied. Use this option if CKAN validators are not strict enough and you
# see the way to break the application by providing valid values for options.
# (optional, default: {})
ckanext.editable_config.additional_validators = {"ckan.site_title": "less_than_100 do_not_contain_exclamation_mark"}

# Remove "Config" tab from CKAN's Admin UI.
# (optional, default: false)
ckanext.editable_config.disable_admin_config_tab = True

# Replace "Config" tab from CKAN's Admin UI with basic form for editable
# config options.
# (optional, default: false)
ckanext.editable_config.replace_admin_config_tab = True

# Automatically convert any existing config overrides added via CKAN's Admin
# UI into editable config overrides.
# (optional, default: false)
ckanext.editable_config.convert_core_overrides = True

API actions

editable_config_last_check

Date and time of the last change detection cycle.

Returns:

• last_check(str): ISO datetime

Example:

$ ckanapi action editable_config_last_check
{
  "last_check": "2023-07-26T08:24:48.013121"
}

editable_config_list

All editable config options. Every modified option includes dictionary containing override details.

Returns:

• editable options(dict[str, Any]): key: option name; value: dictionary with current value and optional modification details

Example:

$ ckanapi action editable_config_list
{
  "ckan.site_about": {
    "option": null,
    "value": ""
  },
  "ckan.site_title": {
    "option": {
      "key": "ckan.site_title",
      "prev_value": "CKAN",
      "updated_at": "2023-07-25T21:44:52.434211",
      "value": "Updated title"
    },
    "value": "Updated title"
  }
}

editable_config_change

Change multiple config options using options mapping with pairs of options name and option value.

Returns:

• updated options(dict[str, Any]): key: option name; value: dictionary with updated option details

Example:

$ ckanapi action editable_config_change options='{"ckan.site_title": "Updated"}'
{
  "ckan.site_title": {
    "key": "ckan.site_title",
    "prev_value": "CKAN",
    "updated_at": "2023-07-26T08:28:04.988247",
    "value": "Updated"
  }
}

editable_config_revert

Swap current and previous value of the option using keys list of option names.

Returns:

• updated options(dict[str, Any]): key: option name; value: dictionary with option details after revert

Example:

$ ckanapi action editable_config_revert keys=ckan.site_title
{
  "ckan.site_title": {
    "key": "ckan.site_title",
    "prev_value": "Updated",
    "updated_at": "2023-07-26T08:28:59.667917",
    "value": "CKAN"
  }
}

editable_config_reset

Remove optio modifications using keys list of option names.

Returns:

• removed options(dict[str, Any]): key: option name; value: dictionary with removed option details

Example:

$ ckanapi action editable_config_reset keys=ckan.site_title
{
  "ckan.site_title": {
    "key": "ckan.site_title",
    "prev_value": "Updated",
    "updated_at": "2023-07-26T08:28:59.667917",
    "value": "CKAN"
  }
}

editable_config_update

Combine change, revert and reset actions into a single action. Accepts change dictionary, revert list, and reset list. Swiss-knife that exists merely for bulk operations.

Returns:

• updated option(dict[str, Any]): key: option name; value: dictionary with current value and optional modification details

Example

$ ckanapi action editable_config_update \
$    change='{"ckan.site_about": "Updated via ckanapi"}' \
$    revert=ckan.site_title \
$    reset=ckan.site_custom_css
{
  "change": {
    "ckan.site_about": {
      "key": "ckan.site_about",
      "prev_value": "Updated via ckanapi",
      "updated_at": "2023-07-26T08:35:25.462359",
      "value": "Updated via ckanapi"
    }
  },
  "reset": {
    "ckan.site_custom_css": {
      "key": "ckan.site_custom_css",
      "prev_value": "",
      "updated_at": "2023-07-26T08:34:26.372150",
      "value": "body{color: red;}"
    }
  },
  "revert": {
    "ckan.site_title": {
      "key": "ckan.site_title",
      "prev_value": "CKAN",
      "updated_at": "2023-07-26T08:35:25.536150",
      "value": "Updated"
    }
  }
}

Troubleshooting

Changing debug or beaker-related options has no effect.

Most of options are checked by CKAN in runtime, when request is made. But beaker settings, debug flag and a number of other options are used when WSGI application is created and these options cannot be changed in runtime at the moment. CKAN core requires some essential changes in initialization workflow and additional safety measures before it become possible.

We'll consider expediency of this possibility in future, but for now this problem has a low priority, so some options just should never be changed in runtime.

Changing ckan.plugins works with actions/validators/helpers, but not with middlewares or blueprints.

It falls under the previous problem. A number of plugin hooks are used when application is initialized, namely: middlewares, blueprints, CLI commands and translations. There is no reliable way to reset these items in runtime. So only plugins that are not using corresponding interfaces can be enabled/disabled via editable config.

But even if plugin can be safely enabled, it's not recommended. Modifying plugins list via editable config may lead to changes in plugins order, which in turn may cause other hard-to-track bugs. Finally, there is no way to tell whether all the requirements of plugin are satisfied, so enabling/disabling it in runtime potentially can break the whole application.

Some options(ones that customized via built in AdminUI of CKAN) cannot be changed.

This plugin is not compatible with the CKAN's built-in AdminUI Config form. Results are unpredictable when they are combined, so prefer to Reset built-in config form and never use it if you going to rely on this plugin. Or, at least, do not change the config option managed by AdminUI using the plugin's API. There is an option that automatically saves any modifications from native AdminUI as editable config options and then resets native AdminUI: ckanext.editable_config.convert_core_overrides.

Option saved with a value that prevent further modifications/breaks application.

You can either clean editable_config_option table removing all customizations or just "bad" ones. Or you can combine ckanapi and environment variable CKANEXT_EDITABLE_CONFIG_DISABLE in order to disable editable_config effect and remove overrides via API:

CKANEXT_EDITABLE_CONFIG_DISABLE=1 ckanapi action editable_config_revert keys=BAD_OPTION_NAME

License

AGPL