From: scott@nic.gac.edu (Scott Hess)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.misc,comp.sys.next.programmer
Subject: Re: Files in my home directory, and other ruminations
Date: 13 Apr 92 22:10:21 GMT
Article-I.D.: nic.SCOTT.92Apr13171021
Followup-To: comp.sys.next.programmer
Organization: Gustavus Adolphus College
In-reply-to: jim@ljkiraly.lerc.nasa.gov's message of 13 Apr 92 17:07:27 GMTLines: 52

In article <1992Apr13.170727.21749@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov> jim@ljkiraly.lerc.nasa.gov (L J "Jim" Kiraly) writes:
>The neatest thing to do would be for developers to agree to put
>their stuff into a .Apps directory - one hidden file in your account
>with appropriate subdirectories for the requirements of each app.
>I was thinking that this could go into the .NeXT directory but it
>would probably screw up upgrades etc.

Best idea I've heard yet.  Using the defaults database has been
suggested.  That's not the best solution for a number of reasons.
One problem is that it's not trivial to store lists of elements in
the defaults database, especially if the list is open-ended.  The
other (and related) problem is that defaults are limited to 1024
characters in length.  Also, the need to keep defaults information
in human-readable ASCII sort of squelches alot of possibilities.

OK, should it be ~/.Apps?  This has other decent possibilities.
What if you allowed a /.LocalApps directory which could store
system-wide info?  Of course, how does one go about modifying that
info?  You'd need a special superuser version or toggle to do it.
But, ~/.Apps is a good idea.  Or, how about a default owned by
System or GLOBAL called HiddenFiles, which could default to ~/.Apps,
yet could be changed for other programs individually.

What of the structure within ~/.Apps?  I would say that groups like
RightBrain, Stone Design, and Lighthouse should use
<HiddenFiles>/RightBrain, <HiddenFiles>/Stone, etc.  <HiddenFiles>
being "the value of the HiddenFiles default".  Note the lack of a
'.' on the subfile names.  this makes sense, because you've already
hidden the entire directory.  You can only assume that someone who
comes looking into it already knows how to find hidden dot files,
so why make their job tougher?

I also like the idea of ~/Library/<vendor> or ~/Library/.hiddenfile,
but we could still use a method of specifying where the files should
be.  Many people don't like directories like Library and Mailboxes
cluttering up their home directory.  And I think that there's a
difference in what is stored there.  I think "Library" has more of
a connotation of a collection of stuff which the user refers to.
I take that as being stuff like a collection of fonts, or a collection
of references, or a collection of bookshelves.  These hidden files
could be considered "a collection of otherwise unrelated hidden
files", but there's seldom a need to muck with them, and such
mucking should not be done lightly.

Note that modified follow-up line.  I think this is something that
we should be discussing amongst the people who will be implementing
it (the users have already spoken and told us so :-).

Later,
--
scott hess <scott@gac.edu>   <A GUI is to a command-line as a TV is to a book>
12901 Upton Avenue South, #326  Burnsville, MN  55337  (612) 895-1208 Anytime!
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.misc