From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Stefan Monnier Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: $HOME default on w32 Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 13:34:05 -0400 Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Message-ID: References: <00ba01c4baa5$aa979ed0$0200a8c0@sedrcw11488> NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1098725685 1535 80.91.229.6 (25 Oct 2004 17:34:45 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 17:34:45 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Oct 25 19:34:26 2004 Return-path: Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1CM8jh-0002m4-00 for ; Mon, 25 Oct 2004 19:34:26 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.33) id 1CM8rM-0004tg-Fm for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 25 Oct 2004 13:42:20 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.33) id 1CM8rC-0004tZ-JJ for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 25 Oct 2004 13:42:10 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.33) id 1CM8rC-0004tN-5W for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 25 Oct 2004 13:42:10 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.33) id 1CM8rB-0004tJ-3t for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 25 Oct 2004 13:42:10 -0400 Original-Received: from [132.204.24.67] (helo=mercure.iro.umontreal.ca) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1CM8jQ-0007cE-7P for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 25 Oct 2004 13:34:08 -0400 Original-Received: from hidalgo.iro.umontreal.ca (hidalgo.iro.umontreal.ca [132.204.27.50]) by mercure.iro.umontreal.ca (Postfix) with ESMTP id E83448282BA; Mon, 25 Oct 2004 13:34:07 -0400 (EDT) Original-Received: from asado.iro.umontreal.ca (asado.iro.umontreal.ca [132.204.24.84]) by hidalgo.iro.umontreal.ca (Postfix) with ESMTP id 347584AC080; Mon, 25 Oct 2004 13:34:06 -0400 (EDT) Original-Received: by asado.iro.umontreal.ca (Postfix, from userid 20848) id E48EF8CA23; Mon, 25 Oct 2004 13:34:05 -0400 (EDT) Original-To: CHENG Gao In-Reply-To: (CHENG Gao's message of "Tue, 26 Oct 2004 00:31:47 +0800") User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/21.3.50 (gnu/linux) X-DIRO-MailScanner-Information: Please contact the ISP for more information X-DIRO-MailScanner: Found to be clean X-DIRO-MailScanner-SpamCheck: n'est pas un polluriel, SpamAssassin (score=0, requis 5) X-MailScanner-From: monnier@iro.umontreal.ca X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:28934 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:28934 > ,---- > | It seems that on w32, if HOME is not defined we default it to C:/. > | Wouldn't it make more sense to default it to $USERPOFILE (if set) which on XP > | seems to typically point to C:/Documents and Files/ which is about as > | close to a "home directory" as it gets? > `---- > May not be a good idea. > C:/Documents and Settings/ contains spaces. I am afraid it may cause > problems. My $HOME is set to C:/Documents and Settings/stefan and Emacs works fine. I know spaces cause difficulties for command line tools, but Windows file and directory names have spaces and we have to live with it, regardless of whether we put our home dir there or not. > 2. There is chance that you may format your C: and reinstall Windows > from scratch. It's highly possible you forget there is so important > data under this > too-damned-long-and-silly-named-with-many-stupid-spaces-dir. You know > what this means. > I can image that there must be many OE users around the world who > forget to backup their emails before reinstalling. I doubt a Windows user would forget about his own Desktop and "My Documents". As a matter of fact, for non-Admin users these are about the only directories where they should have write access. > To sum up, I think it's very bad idea to follow this M$ sillie. And if > possible, I think use a subdir under C: should be avoided. A good choice > may be d:/home. Most machines I've seen have no D: drive. We're talking about a default for non-Unixy users here. Let's get real. > If you are a Windows sufferer, you know you have to reinstall it several > times each year. And every time, you have risk to lose some > important data. This is completely irrelevant to this thread. Stefan