Re: single init file/directory for windows and linux using version control svn or cvs

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> From: CHENG Gao <chenggao@gmail.com>
> Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2006 10:41:52 +0800
> 
> IIRC, there is no fallback dir for HOME under GNU/Linux and BSD, and
> user always (and should) know where HOME is. Why Windoze is so special
> that a (or even some) fallback dir(s) is(are) provided?

Because a GNU/Linux system _always_ has the HOME environment variable
defined for every user, while a Windows system doesn't.  So Emacs that
runs on Windows needs to find some place to look for its per-user
files if HOME is not defined; it cannot rely on the fact that HOME is
_always_ defined.  By contrast, a GNU/Linux system where HOME is not
defined is broken in many ways, so Emacs on GNU/Linux does not need
to consider such a situation.

> Even Windoze users should know where HOME is.

I hope by now you understand why they do NOT know.  The notion of a
HOME directory simply doesn't exist on Windows.

> Maybe the clearer and simpler solution is to tell users to set HOME dir
> explicitly in manual.

That's not a good idea, since one needs a working Emacs to read the
manual.

> If a user can not handle HOME thing, my suggestion is DONT use
> Emacs. notepad.exe is better choice.

Why treat users harshly when we can solve the issue in the code.  As
we have, actually, which is why I think it's pointless to discuss such
suggestions now.