> On Aug 24, 2017, at 8:57 AM, Geert Janssens <geert.gnuc...@kobaltwit.be> > wrote: > > On woensdag 23 augustus 2017 23:21:23 CEST John Ralls wrote: >> A new default should apply only to new installations and should be >> overridden by $GNC_DOT_DIR and $AQBANKING_HOME; we should continue to >> include ~/.gnucash and ~/.aqbanking in the default search and use the first >> instance of the config file we find. >> > While that is conservative and safe, it would also require us to support the > outdated directories forever and by extension make our code more complicated > for that same period. So I'm not in favor of this strategy. > > And I'm not the only one. I have come across several applications in my long > use of linux that have chosen not to do that either. Two come to mind > immediately: libreoffice has changed user data directories with every major > release for as long as I have used it. It has always copied the old one and > didn't even bother telling the user about this. KMail did a similar migration > twice, and informed the me about it on each occasion. > > So I think to point of view to take here is gnucash 2.8 is a new application > that knows how to import settings from an older application (which happens to > be gnucash 2.6 or older). At some point in the future nobody will still be > using the old application at which point the user can decide to drop the > configuration that old app used (I think nobody does that in real life > though). > > I agree an override option should exist indeed. Not in the least because > you're using it on OS X :) > > On the other hand I think GNC_DOT_DIR is tied way too much to the old > directory format and I prefer to change it to GNC_DATA_HOME (as GNC_HOME is > already in use to point at the base installation directory). > >> The XDG environment variables are appropriate in the Gnome and KDE desktop >> environments on Linux and pretty much nowhere else. Perhaps the best >> approach would be to set reasonable defaults per OS and allow them to be >> overridden with a CMake variable and configure argument. >> > The per OS defaults are a good suggestion. On linux and compatible that is > XDG_DATA_HOME/Gnucash, on Windows CSIDL_APPDATA\Gnucash. I'm only missing > this > on OS X. Is there a function in the Quarz framework that would return ~/ > Library/Application Support/ so a similar default path can be created ? I'd > want the defaults to be such that no environment variable should be set to > get > them. > > About the override in Cmake or configure, I doubt that makes much sense. > These > directories have no use during build, only at runtime*. And at runtime they > can be overridden by GNC_DATA_HOME and AQBANKING_HOME. > > Geert > > * Strictly speaking I should say "should have no use during build". > Unfortunately compiling the guile sources will cause the user_data_dir > functions to be run. It's guile's way of evaluating whether dynamically > loaded > modules won't call other guile sources that need to be compiled :( > I'm still evaluating whether this is bad for my new code or not.
Re backwards compat, OK, I guess. Moving the default for GnuCash isn't really the issue, it's AQBanking. Unless we convince Martin to go along we're either going to have a hack like linking or to support ~/.aqbanking forever. Re GNC_DOT_DIR on Mac: But if GnuCash sets the default data directory to ~/Library/Application Support then I won't need the environment variable override. The reason for providing a CMake/configure override is because people build GnuCash on platforms besides the 3 we overtly support including the various BSDs, True64, and Solaris. There was even somebody running it on OpenVMS a few years ago, but we haven't heard from him in a long time. I think some of the BSDs distribute GnuCash binaries, and it would be courteous to provide those packagers with a convenient way to set up GnuCash for whatever their defaults are. We'll also need a fallback on Linux if XDG_DATA_HOME isn't defined or GnuCash will barf because it can't create /gnucash. The Cocoa key for ~/Library/Application Support is NSFileManager::NSApplicationSupportDirectory. There's example code at https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/FileManagement/Conceptual/FileSystemProgrammingGuide/ManagingFIlesandDirectories/ManagingFIlesandDirectories.html <https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/FileManagement/Conceptual/FileSystemProgrammingGuide/ManagingFIlesandDirectories/ManagingFIlesandDirectories.html>. Regards, John Ralls _______________________________________________ gnucash-devel mailing list gnucash-devel@gnucash.org https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-devel
