Re: Texinfo 7.0 changed the name of HTML output directory

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2024 09:02:37 +0200
> From: Patrice Dumas <pertusus@free.fr>
> 
> On Sun, Aug 25, 2024 at 06:57:42PM +0100, Gavin Smith wrote:
> > On Sun, Aug 25, 2024 at 02:15:17PM +0200, Patrice Dumas wrote:
> > > On Sun, Aug 25, 2024 at 11:32:01AM +0100, Gavin Smith wrote:
> > > > We should at least support the "XDG Base Directory Specification".
> 
> I see three possibilities for the locations that do not already follow
> the XDG Specification, locations like /etc/texinfo or /etc/texi2any, and
> locations like $HOME/.texinfo or $HOME/.texi2any
> 
> 1) remove them as possibilities completly and mark in the documentation
>   that the new directory have to be used
> 2) keep them as possibilities but mark them deprecated in the
>   documentation, add warnings in the code and keep them about 5 years
> 3) keep them and maintain them
> 
> I would lean towards 2), otherwise there would be too many directories
> searched for.
> 
> Opinions?

XDG is supported only on some systems.  For example, MS-Windows
doesn't support it, and I'm not sure about macOS.

So my suggestion is look for the files in their traditional places,
and failing that to fall back on XDG-mandated locations (with suitable
defaults as defined by XDG, if the relevant environment variables are
not set).  This is what Emacs does, and we have yet to hear a single
complaint.  We found this to be the best alternative in terms of
backward compatibility: it allows users smooth migration to
XDG-compliant configuration if and when they so desire.

(Btw, AFAIK XDG directories can be ephemeral, and the environment
variables can be removed when the user logs off.  This should be kept
in mind when designing the support for XDG.)