Re: GNUstep.conf

[oberhage]

Chris B. Vetter <chris.vetter@gmail.com> wrote:
: Hello @list,

: has anyone tried to bend the settings of GNUSTEP_XXX_ROOT such that
: the GNUstep folders reflect the folder structure of OS X?

: That is, for example instead of .../Local/Applications/ and
: .../System/Applications/ just have ONE .../Applications/ (one
: .../Library/ and so on).

: Would there be any (negative) implications if you'd do so?

Please have a look at
 http://www.gnustep.org/resources/documentation/User/GNUstep/filesystem.pdf
unless you haven't done so.

The/one reasoning behind this is:

System - belongs to the 'GNUstep' base system, its 'distribution' or its
         maintainer and is 'local' to the machine. It may e.g. be totally
         replaced by an 'update'.
Local - something local to that machine, not part of the base distribution.
        think of scanner- or digitial camera-applications, local frameworks,
        services or whatsoever.
Network - Thinks that come potetially from the 'outside', e.g. a (locally)
          central applicaition server (from nfs or so) with components of
          interest for every machine in a LAN/cluster etc.
User -  Give the a chance to install and/or overwrite any of the above
        settings local to 'his' data-/filerepository. Nearly any Linux
        distribution I know still misses this in its package-management
        when you would like to install a package 'for your own usage' (only).
        Many tarballs are capable of 'relocation' at configuration time!

These are requirements, that look minimal to me. At least 'we' need all
of them on 'our' location. When you don't need one or the other - fine,
just ignore it or let it point to another one (Local), but don't take it
away from people who make use of it.

The decision to part from /NextApps /NextAdmin /NextDevloper /NextLibrary
/LocalApps /LocalLibrary etc. in favor of a more tree-like structure, that
Apple, too, introduced when they published their version of OPENSTEP makes
more sense to me, as it occupies less entries at each starting point and
thus makes it more clear, what to look for where, especially with respect
of the name in the 'Users' domanin (~/Apps, ~/Library):

(/NextApps, NextLibrary -> /System/{Apps,Library}
 /LocalApps, LocalLibrary -> /Local/{Apps,Library}
 ~/Apps, ~/Library -> ~/{Apps,Library}  :-) )

Greetings,
 Ruediger Oberhage
-- 
H.-R. Oberhage
Mail: Univ. Duisburg-Essen      E-Mail: oberhage@Uni-Essen.DE
      Fachbereich Physik                ruediger@Theo-Phys.Uni-Essen.DE
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