From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Eli Zaretskii Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: single init file/directory for windows and linux using version control svn or cvs Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2006 15:46:42 +0300 Message-ID: References: <45128250.8090009@gnu.org> Reply-To: Eli Zaretskii NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1158929244 4480 80.91.229.2 (22 Sep 2006 12:47:24 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2006 12:47:24 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Fri Sep 22 14:47:23 2006 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1GQkQr-0006yv-3U for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Fri, 22 Sep 2006 14:47:05 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1GQkQq-00042d-EF for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Fri, 22 Sep 2006 08:47:04 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1GQkQW-00040B-Tl for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 22 Sep 2006 08:46:45 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1GQkQW-0003zV-6l for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 22 Sep 2006 08:46:44 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1GQkQW-0003zI-4c for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 22 Sep 2006 08:46:44 -0400 Original-Received: from [192.114.186.66] (helo=romy.inter.net.il) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.52) id 1GQkUF-00056v-OZ for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 22 Sep 2006 08:50:35 -0400 Original-Received: from HOME-C4E4A596F7 (IGLD-84-228-163-171.inter.net.il [84.228.163.171]) by romy.inter.net.il (MOS 3.7.3-GA) with ESMTP id FUZ10922 (AUTH halo1); Fri, 22 Sep 2006 15:46:42 +0300 (IDT) Original-To: CHENG Gao In-reply-to: (message from CHENG Gao on Fri, 22 Sep 2006 10:41:52 +0800) 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: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:60102 Archived-At: > From: CHENG Gao > 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.