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+# mkhint: config file + slackrepo update-vs-build
+
+Date: 2026-07-05
+Status: approved
+
+## Problem
+
+Two issues, shipped together:
+
+1. **`--check` and `--hintfile` always run `slackrepo update`.** When a proposed
+   package is not yet built in the repository, `slackrepo update` refuses it and
+   skips. Newly-added packages need `slackrepo build`; only already-built ones
+   should use `update`.
+
+2. **Path constants are hardcoded and duplicated.** `REPO_DIR`/`HINT_DIR` live at
+   the top of `mkhint` and are copied verbatim into `mkhint.bash-completion`
+   (a known sync hazard, flagged in CLAUDE.md). Adding a packages-directory
+   constant would make it worse. Move them to a single sourced config file.
+
+## Change 1: Config file
+
+### Location and format
+
+`~/.config/mkhint/config` — a plain bash file of `KEY="value"` lines, sourced
+directly (no parser). Single-user personal tool; sourcing is the laziest correct
+option.
+
+### mkhint
+
+At the top of `mkhint`, keep every current hardcoded value as a baked-in default,
+then source the config file if it exists so user values override:
+
+```bash
+# Default configuration
+REPO_DIR="/var/lib/sbopkg/SBo-danix/"          # SBo repo with .info files
+HINT_DIR="/etc/slackrepo/SBo-danix/hintfiles/" # where .hint files live
+PACKAGES_DIR="/repo/"                          # built-package repo (.txz tree)
+TMP_DIR="/tmp/mkhint"
+NVCHECKER_CONFIG="$HOME/.config/nvchecker/nvchecker.toml"
+PHANTOM_DEPS_FILE="$HOME/.config/mkhint/phantom-deps"
+
+# ponytail: sourced config, defaults above win when file absent. A syntax-broken
+# config aborts under `set -e` — acceptable for a single-user tool.
+MKHINT_CONFIG="$HOME/.config/mkhint/config"
+[[ -f "$MKHINT_CONFIG" ]] && source "$MKHINT_CONFIG"
+```
+
+`TMP_DIR` and the two `$HOME/.config` paths stay as defaults too; the config file
+may override any of them but does not need to mention them. `PACKAGES_DIR` is new.
+
+Missing config file = current behavior, byte for byte.
+
+### mkhint.bash-completion
+
+The completion script currently hardcodes its own `repo_dir`/`hint_dir` (lines
+8–9). Replace with the same default-then-source block, seeding the locals from the
+sourced variables:
+
+```bash
+local repo_dir hint_dir
+repo_dir="/var/lib/sbopkg/SBo-danix"
+hint_dir="/etc/slackrepo/SBo-danix/hintfiles"
+local mkhint_config="$HOME/.config/mkhint/config"
+[[ -f "$mkhint_config" ]] && source "$mkhint_config"
+repo_dir="${REPO_DIR:-$repo_dir}"
+hint_dir="${HINT_DIR:-$hint_dir}"
+repo_dir="${repo_dir%/}"; hint_dir="${hint_dir%/}"
+```
+
+(Completion strips a trailing slash today by writing the paths without one; the
+config's values carry trailing slashes, so normalize with `%/`.) Completion does
+not need `PACKAGES_DIR`.
+
+## Change 2: update vs build
+
+### Existence helper
+
+Package counts as "in the repo" when a built `.txz` exists for it. Layout is
+`<PACKAGES_DIR>/<category>/<pkgname>/<pkgname>-*.txz`.
+
+```bash
+# True if a built package (.txz) for <pkg> exists in the repo.
+pkg_in_repo() {
+    local pkg="$1"
+    compgen -G "${PACKAGES_DIR%/}/*/${pkg}/${pkg}-*.txz" >/dev/null 2>&1
+}
+```
+
+`compgen -G` is a builtin glob test, no external `find`. Returns non-zero (false)
+when nothing matches. Safe under `set -e` because it is used only in a condition.
+
+### `--check` batch site (currently ~line 998)
+
+Replace the single "Run 'slackrepo update ...'" prompt. After the update loop
+builds `updated[]`, partition:
+
+```bash
+if [[ ${#updated[@]} -gt 0 ]]; then
+    local -a existing=() fresh=()
+    local p
+    for p in "${updated[@]}"; do
+        if pkg_in_repo "$p"; then existing+=("$p"); else fresh+=("$p"); fi
+    done
+    run_slackrepo update "${existing[@]}"
+    run_slackrepo build  "${fresh[@]}"
+fi
+```
+
+### `--hintfile` single site (currently `prompt_slackrepo`, ~line 824)
+
+`prompt_slackrepo` becomes a one-package dispatcher onto the same helper:
+
+```bash
+prompt_slackrepo() {
+    local pkg="$1"
+    if pkg_in_repo "$pkg"; then
+        run_slackrepo update "$pkg"
+    else
+        run_slackrepo build "$pkg"
+    fi
+}
+```
+
+### Shared prompt+run helper
+
+One helper for both action words, so the confirm text and the empty-list guard
+live in one place:
+
+```bash
+# Prompt to run `slackrepo <action> <pkgs...>`; no-op on empty list.
+run_slackrepo() {
+    local action="$1"; shift
+    [[ $# -eq 0 ]] && return 0
+    local answer
+    read -r -p "Run 'slackrepo $action $*'? [Y/n] " answer
+    answer="${answer:-Y}"
+    [[ "$answer" =~ ^[Yy]$ ]] && slackrepo "$action" "$@"
+}
+```
+
+In the `--check` case both `update` and `build` prompts appear only when their
+list is non-empty, so a run touching only existing packages is unchanged from
+today; a run touching only new packages now offers `build`; a mixed run offers
+both, in that order.
+
+## Tests
+
+Test harness already stubs external commands via a fake `wget` and mock dirs.
+`slackrepo` is prompted, not run, in existing tests (input piped to decline or the
+call is observed). Extend the harness to:
+
+- Provide a mock `PACKAGES_DIR` and a stub `slackrepo` that records
+  `action + args`.
+- Add cases:
+  - **`--check`, updated pkg already built** → offered `slackrepo update <pkg>`,
+    not `build`.
+  - **`--check`, updated pkg not built** → offered `slackrepo build <pkg>`.
+  - **`--check`, mixed** → `update` for the built one, `build` for the new one,
+    two prompts.
+  - **`--hintfile` no `-V`, pkg built** → `slackrepo update`.
+  - **`--hintfile` no `-V`, pkg not built** → `slackrepo build`.
+  - **config file present overrides `PACKAGES_DIR`** → helper uses the override.
+  - **config file absent** → defaults intact (existing tests already cover this
+    implicitly; assert `PACKAGES_DIR` default at least once).
+
+Reuse existing test IDs' numbering scheme (next free T-number onward).
+
+## Docs
+
+Update `CLAUDE.md` (Configuration section: new config file, `PACKAGES_DIR`,
+update-vs-build behavior in the `--check`/`--hintfile` Key Behaviors bullets),
+`README.md`, and `CHANGELOG.md` (this is a `feat`, minor bump per SemVer;
+no breaking change — missing config = old behavior).
+
+## Non-goals
+
+- No TOML/INI parsing. Sourced bash only.
+- No new dependency.
+- No change to how versions are detected or written.
+- No per-package build/update toggle beyond presence-in-repo.