jrnl should not (necessarly) try to update the configuration
Author: matthiasbeyerCreated Aug 10, 2025Updated Feb 25, 2026
Labelsbug
Diagnostic output
I use nix to configure my system. This means that the jrnl configuration will be a symlink and its contents won't be writable by jrnl.
This is why I think jrnl should not auto-update the configuration file contents. Or at least I should be able to configure it not to.
Current Behavior
jrnl writes to the config file if it finds a missing key.
Expected Behavior
jrnl only changes the configuration file if I tell it to, or it is not explicitly forbidden in the configuration file.
Repro Steps
Normal jrnl installation
Debug output
Not applicable
Other Information
No response
Source: jrnl-org/jrnl