Dear Lispers,
The most significant bit for this email is: DO YOU HAVE A source-registry.conf ON WINDOWS? or do you know someone who has? If so, please contact me, either on this list or in private, because I'm considering a backward-incompatible change in its location.
(If you use or don't use source-registry.conf on Linux, that can be an interesting data point, too, for comparison of impact.)
If not, then there will be no negative impact to the proposed change.
I'm having a hard time finding an affected Windows user who cares, which may be a sign that there is none and I can proceed, or that I'm simply disconnected from the user base.
Right now, ASDF tries to do things kind-of-the-windows-way, where "common-lisp/" replaces the vendor/app/ path component. Thus, it puts its configuration in %LOCALAPPDATA%/common-lisp/config/ its cache in %LOCALAPPDATA%/common-lisp/cache/ and for source code in %LOCALAPPDATA%/common-lisp/source/
I'm considering dropping the Windows special-casing, and offering the XDG model on all platforms, including Windows. That would mean the configuration would instead go in %LOCALAPPDATA%/Configuration/common-lisp/ and the cache in %LOCALAPPDATA%/Cache/common-lisp/ while source code remains in %LOCALAPPDATA%/common-lisp/source/ with these the conceptual mapping XDG_CONFIG_HOME=%LOCALAPPDATA%/Configuration instead of ~/.config/ and XDG_DATA_HOME=%LOCALAPPDATA%/ instead of ~/.local/share/ and XDG_CACHE_HOME=%LOCALAPPDATA%/Cache/ instead of ~/.cache/
The advantage of the change would be that ASDF would offer to Lisp programs a uniform XDG view on all platforms, which has some costs in terms of being slightly unfamiliar to Windows users and a transition issue for some of them, but going forward allows for: * all files can be redirected on all platforms using the XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable and its siblings. * the same directory concepts on all platforms. * slightly simpler code for the ASDF maintainers, and much simpler documentation: no need to explain vast subtle discrepancies from one platform to the next. * the ability to handle backup of configuration and skipping of backup of cache in a simpler way than with the usual Windows semi-convention. * a more uniform API for the Lisp programmer
The main disadvantage is that this setup is somewhat different from current conventions on Windows. On the other hand, conventions on Unix were similar to those on Windows some ten years back, and have improved thanks to XDG -- maybe they can evolve for the better on Windows, too, in the next ten years.
To me, the big issue is with transition for people who currently use a source-registry.conf on Windows. Since ASDF will start to look for it at a different location, their setup will need to be amended when they upgrade ASDF.
What do you think? Does anyone care at all? Does anyone actually have a common-lisp/config/source-registry.conf file and be confused if the location changes?
—♯ƒ • François-René ÐVB Rideau •Reflection&Cybernethics• http://fare.tunes.org Corollaries to the Law of Bitur-Camember: The political process destroys the value of all known resources that are up for grabs. The socialist process of systematically denying legitimacy to property rights applies the political process universally and destroys the value of all available resources.