[PD][proposal] pd externs/extra/abs policy

[Krzysztof Czaja]

hi all,

may I throw in a few rambling questions and thoughts?

If I would ever want to provide install option in any release of my
libraries, am I supposed to make that into the `official' place,
be it /usr/(local/?)lib/pd/extra, or whatever?  With all the symlinks
accompanying library file (like xeq_parse.pd_linux->xeq.pd_linux)?

Well, I would hesitate to do that -- keeping all externs in a single
flat directory.  I would rather put my stuff somewhere down the tree.

I see two ways:

1. Reserve the `official' flat directory for a small set of
`officially approved' libraries.  Unofficial add-ons may go into
whatever other place their author chooses, preferably into
subdirectories of .../pd/extra, but the place has to be always
-path-added into .pdrc (how about Windows users?)

2. Design an optional tree-searching (or full-blown globbing)
mechanism for open_via_path() to be used whenever loading
libraries (and possibly abstractions) is involved.

The second, which is much better, is probably only a dream.

And surely all of the above is totally wrong, as I have never
`installed' Pd, or any of its libraries yet.  Always been working
with their source trees (yes, also in a multiuser environment, with
other users reading my /home... what a shame...)

Krzysztof

Miller Puckette wrote:
...
 > I think the best thing is to throw everything in pd/extra.  This will mean
 > that updating Pd requires that you reassemble the externs, but then, at
 > some level you always will have to do that, so it probably doesn't help to
 > have two or three such directories instead of one...