`sudo systemctl edit` uses GNU `nano`

[becknik]

Describe the bug

When trying to use the sudo systemctl edit --runtime <nixos-upgrade>.service the default editor (Neovim/ nvim in my case) set in configuration.nix and the EDITOR environment variable (also nvim) is ignored. This seems to only apply to the system systemd edit command, the user-space without sudo detects the default editor. However, my user-space uses home-manger & nixvim to manage my Neovim setup, so I don't think it's representative enough to be seen as reference...

When using sudo -E systemctl edit --runtime nixos-upgrade.service however, my default editor is recognized correctly. This also applies when using sudo -s, and then systemctl edit --runtime nixos-upgrade.service.

Steps To Reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Have the following settings related to sudo & Neovim enabled in the configurations.nix:

  security = {
    sudo = {
      enable = true;
      execWheelOnly = true;
      extraConfig =
        "Defaults timestamp_type=global\n"  # share sudo-session between terminals
        + "Defaults timestamp_timeout=15\n" # sudo timeout from 10 to 15 minutes
        + "Defaults pwfeedback\n"           # display stars when typing character
        + "Defaults insults";
    };
    please.enable = true;
  };
  programs.neovim = {
    # Enable neovim for root account, besides of nixvim for home-manager user
    enable = true;
    defaultEditor = true;
    viAlias = true;
    vimAlias = true;
  };

2. Open up a shell and sudo systemctl edit --runtime nixos-upgrade.service
3. Find yourself in GNU nano (which isn't even explicitly installed)

Expected behavior

The systemd service editor shows up in my nvim environemnt

Additional context

Home-managed shell config (pretty messy, sorry):

```nix { config, pkgs, ... }: { programs = { # zsh & bash integration are enabled by default hstr.enable = true; # Whether to enable Bash And Zsh shell history suggest box fzf.enable = true; bash = { enable = true; #enableVteIntegration = true; # implied by gnome }; zsh = { enable = true; #dotDir = "~/.config/zsh"; # Where zsh config files are placed; randomly creates new folders in $HOME or elsewhere envExtra = "export KEYTIMEOUT=5" # Esc key in vi mode is 0.4s by default, this sets it to 0.05s ; enableAutosuggestions = true; #enableVteIntegration = true; # implied by gnome syntaxHighlighting.enable = true; /*zsh-abbr = { # TODO zsh-abbr isn't working... enable = true; abbreviations = { # Alias which expansion after entering, like the ones in fish nrbs = "sudo nixos-rebuild --flake \"${config.home.homeDirectory}/devel/own/dotfiles.nix#dnix\" switch"; nrbt = "sudo nixos-rebuild --flake \"${config.home.homeDirectory}/devel/own/dotfiles.nix#dnix\" test"; }; };*/ historySubstringSearch.enable = true; autocd = true; # Automatically cds into a path entered = setopt autocd history = { extended = true; # Write the history file in the ":start:elapsed;command" format ignoreAllDups = true; # Delete old recorded entry if new entry is a duplicate ignoreDups = true; # Don't record an entry that was just recorded again #path = "${config.programs.zsh.dotDir}/.zhistroy"; save = 10000; # Amount of lines to save share = true; # Share history between all sessions. ignorePatterns = [ "alias" "cd" "gcsm" "ls" "la" ]; ignoreSpace = true; # Share history between all sessions. }; localVariables = { # variable definitions on top of .zshrc # Further oh-my-zsh Settings DISABLE_AUTO_TITLE = true; # automatic setting of terminal title ENABLE_CORRECTION = false; # command auto corrections COMPLETION_WAITING_DOTS = true; }; #initExtraFirst = ""; # Placed on top of .zshrc #initExtraBeforeCompInit = ''''; initExtra = # further history setup "setopt HIST_EXPIRE_DUPS_FIRST\n" # Expire duplicate entries first when trimming history. + "setopt HIST_FIND_NO_DUPS\n" # Do not display a line previously found. + "bindkey -v\n" # vim keybindings + "bindkey '^H' backward-kill-word\n" # Enables Ctrl + Del to delete a full word # vi-style navigation in menu completion + "bindkey -M menuselect 'h' vi-backward-char\n" + "bindkey -M menuselect 'k' vi-up-line-or-history\n" + "bindkey -M menuselect 'l' vi-forward-char\n" + "bindkey -M menuselect 'j' vi-down-line-or-history\n" # vi-style history navigation + "bindkey '^k' up-history\n" + "bindkey '^j' down-history\n" # bash-like history search + "bindkey '^r' history-incremental-search-backward\n" # enable bash-like feature i cant explain rn... + "unsetopt flow_control\n" + "bindkey '^q' push-line\n" # auto-complete with Ctrl + Space + "bindkey '^ ' autosuggest-accept\n" # https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/tree/master/plugins/git-escape-magic + "autoload -Uz git-escape-magic\n" + "git-escape-magic\n" # bonsai + "cbonsai --multiplier 5 -m 'It takes strength to resist the dark side. Only the weak embrace it.' -p" ; oh-my-zsh = { enable = true; theme = "bullet-train"; plugins = [ "systemd" #"timer" "common-aliases" "bgnotify" "copyfile" "copypath" #"dirhistory" "alias-finder" #"catimg" #"chucknorris" #"aws" "docker" "fzf" "git" "git-auto-fetch" "git-escape-magic" "gitignore" #"rust" #"mvn" #"pyenv" #"python" #"gradle" #"hitchhiker" #"httpie" #"jsontools" #"kubectl" #"nmap" #"npm" #"microk8s" #"man" #"encode64" #"extract" "fancy-ctrl-z" #"rand-quote" "ripgrep" #"ruby" #"rsync" #"scala" "singlechar" #"ssh-agent" #"thefuck" # should conflict with the Esc^2 from sudo plugin #"transfer" # file sharing, but idk if usefull fo rme... #"urltools" "vscode" "wd" #"web-search" "zbell" "zsh-interactive-cd" "direnv" ]; custom = "${config.home.homeDirectory}/.config/oh-my-zsh/custom"; extraConfig = # oh-my-zsh extra settings for plugins # $1=exit_status, $2=command, $3=elapsed_time ''bgnotify_bell=false; bgnotify_threshold=10; function bgnotify_formatted { [ $1 -eq 0 ] && title="Holy Smokes, Batman!" || title="Holy Graf Zeppelin!" bgnotify "$title -- after $3 s" "$2"; } TIMER_PRECISION=2; TIMER_FORMAT="[%d]"; TIMER_THRESHOLD=.5; '' + # oh-my-zsh extra settings for themes: # Not set: perl nvm hg ''BULLETTRAIN_PROMPT_ORDER=("time" "status" "context" "custom" "dir" "ruby" "virtualenv" "aws" "go" "elixir" "git" "cmd_exec_time"); BULLETTRAIN_PROMPT_SEPARATE_LINE=true; BULLETTRAIN_PROMPT_ADD_NEWLINE=false; BULLETTRAIN_STATUS_EXIT_SHOW=true; BULLETTRAIN_IS_SSH_CLIENT=true; BULLETTRAIN_PROMPT_SEPARATE_LINE=true; #BULLETTRAIN_GIT_COLORIZE_DIRTY=true; '' ; }; shellAliases = { fu = "sudo"; sduo = "sudo"; nrbs = "sudo nixos-rebuild --flake \"${config.home.homeDirectory}/devel/own/dotfiles.nix#dnix\" switch"; nrbt = "sudo nixos-rebuild --flake \"${config.home.homeDirectory}/devel/own/dotfiles.nix#dnix\" test"; ngc = "sudo nix-collect-garbage"; ngckeep = "sudo nix-collect-garbage --delete-older-than"; ngcd = "sudo nix-collect-garbage -d"; ngcdu = "nix-collect-garbage -d"; }; #completionInit # "Oh-My-Zsh/Prezto calls compinit during initialization, calling it twice causes slight start up slowdown" #defaultKeymap = "viins"; # viins vicmd # ?? }; }; home.packages = [ pkgs.libnotify ]; # For bg-notify zsh plugin } ```

Notify maintainers

Systemd: @flokli @kloenk sudo: @delroth

Metadata

$ nix-info -m
 - system: `"x86_64-linux"`
 - host os: `Linux 6.6.7-xanmod1, NixOS, 23.11 (Tapir), 23.11.20231221.0b3d618`
 - multi-user?: `no`
 - sandbox: `yes`
 - version: `nix-env (Nix) 2.18.1`
 - channels(jnnk): `""`
 - channels(root): `""`
 - nixpkgs: `not found`

---

Add a :+1: reaction to issues you find important.

[eclairevoyant]

That's how sudo works, it doesn't preserve envvars unless told to.

[eclairevoyant]

The behaviour you see is also consistent with the manpages, see https://www.mankier.com/1/systemctl#Environment-%24SYSTEMD_EDITOR:

If neither $SYSTEMD_EDITOR nor $EDITOR nor $VISUAL are present or if it is set to an empty string or if their execution failed, systemctl will try to execute well known editors in this order: editor(1), nano(1), vim(1), vi(1).

[becknik]

Okay then, thanks for your (fast) answer. I'm not that familiar with sudo.

This StackExchange answer to a user with the same question has a solution. Can't we just append Defaults:root,%wheel env_keep += "EDITOR" to /etc/sudoers to enable the pass-through of the default editor?

I (as a fairly new NixOS/ Linux user) think this is something the configuration should take care of implicitly when setting a default editor. It should include cases where sudo is a prepended - it's just more convenient and surely won't break anything to expose this one domain-specific environment variable. Seems like there similar cases with the following:

$ sudo cat /etc/sudoers
# ...
# Keep terminfo database for root and %wheel.
Defaults:root,%wheel env_keep+=TERMINFO_DIRS
Defaults:root,%wheel env_keep+=TERMINFO

What do you think?

[eclairevoyant]

This is definitely not something that should be done by default. Even opting in is somewhat questionable IMO, as just about anything can set envvars...

[becknik]

Okay, then I'll close this issue. Thanks again