[PD-dev] Help search; standard external installation paths

Julius Smith jos at ccrma.stanford.edu
Tue Jan 27 02:11:37 CET 2004


Dear pd-dev,

When pd searches for a help file in response to "right-click Help" on some 
external object, the '~' is removed from the sought filename.  This seems 
incorrect since it prevents "signal-based" and "message-based" objects from 
having the same root name.  I would think the '~' should be fundamentally a 
part of the module's name.

My current workaround is to install a symbolic link from "help-name~.pd" to 
"help-name.pd" in my doc dir for externals, which seems rather ugly.

On a related topic, it would be nice if there were a standard recommended 
place to install such help files for pd extensions, e.g., 
/usr/local/lib/pd/doc/5.reference/extensions/<packagename>/.  (I have seen 
/usr/local/lib/pd/doc/5.reference/<packagename>[help]/ used by some packages.)

Similarly, it would also be helpful to have a standard recommended 
directory for installation of externals (and libraries of externals), such as
/usr/local/lib/pd/extensions/<package-name>/.  I have seen 
/usr/local/lib/pd/<package-name>/ used by some packages, which leaves it 
unclear what is an extension and what is native pd.

-- Julius





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