Invalid character in Windows template filenames

[grovduck]

Great idea and really cool tutorial - thanks so much for this.

When I try to use this template on Windows using copier, I'm getting the following error:

C:\Users\gregorma\Desktop>copier gh:gahjelle/template-aoc-python foo2
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Python39\lib\runpy.py", line 197, in _run_module_as_main
    return _run_code(code, main_globals, None,
  File "C:\Python39\lib\runpy.py", line 87, in _run_code
    exec(code, run_globals)
  File "C:\Users\gregorma\.local\bin\copier.exe\__main__.py", line 7, in <module>
  File "C:\Users\gregorma\.local\pipx\venvs\copier\lib\site-packages\plumbum\cli\application.py", line 629, in run
    inst, retcode = subapp.run(argv, exit=False)
  File "C:\Users\gregorma\.local\pipx\venvs\copier\lib\site-packages\plumbum\cli\application.py", line 624, in run
    retcode = inst.main(*tailargs)
  File "C:\Users\gregorma\.local\pipx\venvs\copier\lib\site-packages\copier\cli.py", line 38, in _wrapper
    return method(*args, **kwargs)
  File "C:\Users\gregorma\.local\pipx\venvs\copier\lib\site-packages\copier\cli.py", line 252, in main
    self.parent._copy(template_src, destination_path)
  File "C:\Users\gregorma\.local\pipx\venvs\copier\lib\site-packages\copier\cli.py", line 173, in _copy
    return copy(
  File "C:\Users\gregorma\.local\pipx\venvs\copier\lib\site-packages\copier\main.py", line 133, in copy
    conf = make_config(**locals())
  File "C:\Users\gregorma\.local\pipx\venvs\copier\lib\site-packages\copier\config\factory.py", line 96, in make_config
    src_path = vcs.clone(repo, vcs_ref or "HEAD")
  File "C:\Users\gregorma\.local\pipx\venvs\copier\lib\site-packages\copier\vcs.py", line 92, in clone
    git("checkout", ref)
  File "C:\Users\gregorma\.local\pipx\venvs\copier\lib\site-packages\plumbum\commands\base.py", line 99, in __call__
    return self.run(args, **kwargs)[1]
  File "C:\Users\gregorma\.local\pipx\venvs\copier\lib\site-packages\plumbum\commands\base.py", line 240, in run
    return p.run()
  File "C:\Users\gregorma\.local\pipx\venvs\copier\lib\site-packages\plumbum\commands\base.py", line 201, in runner
    return run_proc(p, retcode, timeout)
  File "C:\Users\gregorma\.local\pipx\venvs\copier\lib\site-packages\plumbum\commands\processes.py", line 322, in run_proc
    return _check_process(proc, retcode, timeout, stdout, stderr)
  File "C:\Users\gregorma\.local\pipx\venvs\copier\lib\site-packages\plumbum\commands\processes.py", line 24, in _check_process
    proc.verify(retcode, timeout, stdout, stderr)
  File "C:\Users\gregorma\.local\pipx\venvs\copier\lib\site-packages\plumbum\machines\base.py", line 28, in verify
    raise ProcessExecutionError(
plumbum.commands.processes.ProcessExecutionError: Unexpected exit code: 1
Command line: | 'C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe' checkout HEAD
Stderr:       | error: invalid path 'src/[[year]]/[[puzzle_dir]]/aoc[[year]][['%02d'|format(day)]].py.tmpl'
              | error: invalid path 'src/[[year]]/[[puzzle_dir]]/test_aoc[[year]][['%02d'|format(day)]].py.tmpl'

From what I can tell, it doesn't accept the pipe character as a valid character in a Windows filename (although I'm not totally sure of this). If I replace [['%02d'|format(day)]] with [[formatted_day]] and put an entry for [[formatted_day]] in the copier.yml file, it seems to work fine. Here's an example of that: https://github.com/grovduck/test-template.

Please let me know if I'm doing something incorrectly - it's my first time using copier!

[gahjelle]

@grovduck Thanks a lot for reporting this, and for figuring out the issue. I don't have a ton of experience with Copier myself, and I've apparently not tested it on Windows at all 🙈

I have a proposed fix in #2. Are you able to run a quick check on whether it resolves the issue? You can test it by running:

C:\Users\gregorma\Desktop>copier gh:gahjelle/template-aoc-python -r bugfix/support-windows-filenames foo2

If this works as it should, I'll deploy it ASAP 😊

[grovduck]

@gahjelle Thanks for the very quick fix. I can confirm that this command worked for me:

copier gh:gahjelle/template-aoc-python -r bugfix/support-windows-filenames foo2

I struggled for a bit to get the bash shell script to work and had to do two different things (in case this helps others).

1. Using git bash, I had to activate my virtual environment using this tip from Presh Onyee. (I have advent-of-code-data and other packages you recommend installed in a virtualenv
2. I had to add a command line -d flag for puzzle_dir as well (i.e. -d puzzle_dir=$day), otherwise I was getting a UnicodeEncodeError.

Here was the Bash script that worked for me:

  for day in {01..25}; do
    copier gh:gahjelle/template-aoc-python -r bugfix/support-windows-filenames -d year=2021 -d day=$day -d puzzle_name="" -d puzzle_dir=$day foo2/
  done

Finally, I was able to do the same thing using PowerShell using this command:

  for ($day = 1; $day -le 25; $day++) {
    $day_str = "{0:00}" -f $day
    copier gh:gahjelle/template-aoc-python -r bugfix/support-windows-filenames -d year=2021 -d day=$day_str -d puzzle_name="" -d puzzle_dir=$day_str foo2/
  }

Thanks so much for your help. Now to actually start on the puzzles! Please feel free to close the issue.

[psycho-baller]

THANK YOUUUU SOOO MUCHHH!! @grovduck

I've been stuck on this error since yesterday. True example of 'not all heroes wear capes'

[gahjelle]

Thank you again, @grovduck , I wholeheartedly agree with @psycho-baller . I have added your tips to the README as well, so that they will be easier to find for other Windows users.

Happy Advent of Coding!

[grovduck]

@gahjelle @psycho-baller Y'all are much too kind. A tiny contribution to what @gahjelle has done here!

[grovduck]

Hi again @gahjelle! I'm using your awesome template generator again this year, but it looks like recent pushes may have reintroduced pipe characters ("|") into these filenames which is causing issues on Windows again:

aoc{{year}}{{'%02d'|format(day)}}.py.jinja
test_aoc{{year}}{{'%02d'|format(day)}}.py.jinja.

I was able to get around it by renaming these files to:

aoc{{year}}{{'%02d' % day}}.py.jinja
test_aoc{{year}}{{'%02d' % day}}.py.jinja

Note that using '%02d'|format(day) within the files themselves causes no issues, only the filenames themselves. I haven't tested on any *nix systems, so I'll leave it to you if you want to make this change (hence, no new issue for this!)

[gahjelle]

Ah, yes, they changed the templating engine in the latest version of Copier, so I had to change the names and I forgot about pipes on windows.
I'll try to have a look at it tomorrow, I'd be happy to find something that works on all systems.
Thanks for the heads up!

[gahjelle]

Thanks again @grovduck

The filenames have been updated, so it should work again now. Thanks again for letting me know!

[grovduck]

Thanks @gahjelle, looks great!