Per user dirs on Non-Unix platforms (was Re: [Python-Dev] Where to install non-code files) (original) (raw)

Fred L. Drake, Jr. fdrake@acm.org
Tue, 30 May 2000 09:10:29 -0700 (PDT)

Gordon McMillan writes:

From the 10**3 foot view, yes, they have the concept. From any closer it falls apart miserably.

So they have the concept, just no implementation. ;) Sounds like leaving it up to the application to interpret their requirements is the right thing. Or the right thing is to provide a function to ask where configuration information should be stored for the user/application; this would be $HOME under Unix and on Windows. The only other reason I can think of that $HOME is needed is for navigation purposes (as in a filesystem browser), and for that the application needs to deal with the lack of the concept in the operating system as appropriate.

(An cmd.exe "cd" w/o arg acts like "pwd". I notice that the bash shell requires you to set $HOME, and won't make any guesses.)

This very definately sounds like overloading $HOME is the wrong thing.

-Fred

-- Fred L. Drake, Jr.