Add to doc and clean

docs/source/configuration.rst

@@ -135,11 +135,14 @@ steps overriding those from earlier:
    above in the main :ref:`config` section. If multiple are present, they will
    *patch*/*override* each other in the order above.
 2. It will look for the same files in the user's home directory (~).
-3. It will look for the same files in the current working directory.
-4. *[if parsing a file in a subdirectory of the current working directory]*
+3. It will look for the same files in all directories between the user's home
+   directory (~), and the current working directory (this does nothing if the
+   current working directory is not a sub directory of the home directory).
+4. It will look for the same files in the current working directory.
+5. *[if parsing a file in a subdirectory of the current working directory]*
    It will look for the same files in every subdirectory between the
    current working dir and the file directory.
-5. It will look for the same files in the directory containing the file
+6. It will look for the same files in the directory containing the file
    being linted.
 
 This whole structure leads to efficient configuration, in particular

src/sqlfluff/core/config.py

@@ -685,27 +685,33 @@ def load_config_up_to_path(
             self.load_user_appdir_config() if not ignore_local_config else {}
         )
         user_config = self.load_user_config() if not ignore_local_config else {}
-        parent_config_paths = (
-            iter_intermediate_paths(Path(path).absolute(), Path(os.path.expanduser("~")))
-            if not ignore_local_config
-            else {}
-        )
-        parent_config_stack = (
-            [self.load_config_at_path(p) for p in reversed(list(parent_config_paths))]
-            if not ignore_local_config
-            else []
-        )
-        parent_config_stack = [config for config in parent_config_stack if config][:1]
-        config_paths = (
-            iter_intermediate_paths(Path(path).absolute(), Path.cwd())
-            if not ignore_local_config
-            else {}
-        )
-        config_stack = (
-            [self.load_config_at_path(p) for p in config_paths]
-            if not ignore_local_config
-            else []
-        )
+        parent_config_stack = []
+        config_stack = []
+        if not ignore_local_config:
+            # Finding all paths between here and the home
+            # directory. We could start at the root of the filesystem,
+            # but depending on the user's setup, this might result in
+            # permissions errors.
+            parent_config_paths = list(
+                iter_intermediate_paths(Path(path).absolute(),
+                                        Path(os.path.expanduser("~")))
+            )
+            # Stripping off the home directory and the current working
+            # directory, since they are both covered by other code
+            # here
+            parent_config_paths = parent_config_paths[1:-1]
+            parent_config_stack = (
+                [self.load_config_at_path(p) for p in reversed(list(parent_config_paths))]
+            )
+            # Taking the first non-empty config (of the reversed list)
+            parent_config_stack = [config for config in parent_config_stack if config][:1]
+
+            config_paths = (
+                iter_intermediate_paths(Path(path).absolute(), Path.cwd())
+            )
+            config_stack = (
+                [self.load_config_at_path(p) for p in config_paths]
+            )
         extra_config = (
             self.load_extra_config(extra_config_path) if extra_config_path else {}
         )