[PD] Preferred/best practice for loading external objects

[Miller Puckette]

OK... so what I hope I just did is to make Pd search in this order:

~/.local/lib/pd/extra/
~/pd-externals
/usr/local/lib/pd-externals

... in that order.  We can consider ~/pd-externals to be obsolete.

cheers
Miller

On Mon, May 09, 2016 at 03:01:33PM +0200, Winfried Ritsch wrote:
> I also propose using for linux systems the standard $(HOME)/.local directory.
> 
> the only minor questions for me would be (in preferred order):
> 
> (a)  ~/.local/lib/pd/extra/
> (b)  ~/.local/lib/pd-external/
> (c)  ~/.local/lib/pd/<version>/extra/
> 
> The idea of the standard path "~/.local" is, that it will be as common and 
> well known as /usr/local is now for system-wide non distribution software. So 
> everyone dealing with linux desktop should find it. Anyhow, path will be 
> shown/hinted during deken install process.
> 
> (a) +: one can copy all of .local/pd stuff to another user account if needed 
> and don't need to install all stuff again (until I get an error) because the 
> pd version was altered.
> 
> (b) was used like IOhannes explained on /usr/local/ to distinguish between 
> /usr/local/bin/pd and some other instance of pd like /usr/bin/pd. 
> 
> But in my opinion if had to use different versions of pd parallel, I do it out 
> my project directory, (if there is really a need for this) and not using 
> /usr/local or any other common place to distinguish them.
> 
> (c) like explained in a do not want to install it again when pd version 
> alters. so I dislike this path since externals versions are mostly not in sync 
> with PD-versions.
> 
> Summarizing:
> 
>  So we have for pd externals, libraries and addons: 
> 
> ~/.local/lib/pd/extra - for user wide pd stuff
> ~/pd-external - deprecated old user wide pd stuff
> 
> /usr/local/lib/pd-externals - for manual systemwide installs of pd externals
> /usr/local/lib/pd/extra/ - for  manual systemwide installs only    
>                                   exclusive for /usr/local/bin/pd installation
> /usr/lib/pd/extra/ - for packaged "third party" = not vanilla pd stuff   
> (/usr/lib/puredata/extra - for pd vanilla pd packaged stuff)
> 
> Anyhow for backwards compatibility we should leave old paths, just don't 
> enforce them and order the preferred first.
> 
> Personally vote for (a)
> 
> mfG
>  Winfried
> 
> PS:For config file i start an own discussion ( now it is ~/.pdsettings and 
> should move to .config/pd/settings.conf)
> 
> 
> Am Montag, 9. Mai 2016, 10:27:32 schrieb IOhannes m zmoelnig:
> > On 2016-05-09 03:32, Chris McCormick wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > > 
> > > On 08/05/16 11:12, Miller Puckette wrote:
> > >> Me, when I shout a thte computer, it's more likely to be "where the
> > >> *&$^%&
> > >> did you put the file I just downloaded?" or "why the $%*& did you just do
> > >> that" as opposed to "why did you just ask me to confirm this operation
> > >> that
> > >> will put files on my disk".  But I know my own tastes aren't shared by
> > >> all
> > >> users...
> > > 
> > > While we are shouting, it seems people (including you) are annoyed about
> > > "~/pd-externals" all up in their home directory. I wonder if it would
> > > make sense to deprecate that in favour of standard config paths on all
> > > platforms?
> > > 
> > > Blender does this well already and follows existing desktop standards. I
> > > think it would be a good model to copy:
> > > 
> > > Linux = $HOME/.config/blender/2.77/
> > > 
> > > Mac OSX = /Users/$USER/Library/Application Support/Blender/2.77/
> > > 
> > > MS-Windows = C:\Documents and Settings\$USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Blender
> > > Foundation\Blender\2.77\
> > 
> > i was always under the impression that the W32 and OSX search paths were
> > pretty OK, so i'm not sure whether action is needed on that side (but of
> > course i am on linux mostly)
> > 
> > i guess this impression mainly comes from the question of how easy it is
> > to hide/ignore that folder, even if I did install something to it.
> > e.g. on w32, the "%AppData%" path is there already in most cases, and it
> > is in a place that i (as the user) don't usually open, so it doesn't get
> > in my way.
> > 
> > so the main problem is on linux, where "pd-externals" show up in my
> > *home* directory, a place that everybody finds themselves looking at all
> > the time.
> > 
> > so i'm all for moving to ~/.local/lib/pd/extra/
> > (and/or ~/.local/lib/pd/0.47-3/extra/ if somebody thinks this is useful)
> > 
> > the relevant specs can be found at [1]
> > 
> > gfdmasr
> > IOhannes
> > 
> > 
> > PS: i don't think that ~/.config/ is the right place to put externals
> > to, regardless of what blender does (again, see [1])
> > 
> > [1]
> > https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html
> 
> -- 
> --
> - ao.Univ.Prof. DI Winfried Ritsch 
> - ritsch at iem.at - http://iem.at/ritsch
> - Institut fuer Elektronische Musik und Akustik
> - University of Music and Dramatic Art Graz
> - Tel. ++43-316-389-3510 (3170) Fax ++43-316-389-3171 
> --
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Pd-list at lists.iem.at mailing list
> UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> https://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list