[PD] questions about Preferences

[IOhannes m zmoelnig]

On 2018-09-01 13:05, rolfm at dds.nl wrote:
> @IOhannes
> 
>> On 8/31/18 11:56 AM, rolfm at dds.nl wrote:
>>> still, the searchpath-preferences are apparently different for externals
>>> and for plugins.
>>
>> i missed how the "plugins" (i assume you mean the extensions for the
>> Pd-gui) entered the discussion here.
> 
> i don't know how to interprete this remark.

as in: "i (IOhannes) am confused, because you haven't yet used the term
'plugin' in this thread, and i'm not sure whether you mean GUI-plugins
or something else".
'plugins' is a quite generic term, but from the rest of your mail i now
gather that you mean "plugins to extend the Pd-GUI functionality" (which
I called "GUI-plugins")

> 
> in the Pd-console i get this output:
> 
> loaded iem::punish::patcherize-plugin
> loaded iem::punish::triggerize-plugin
> 'deken-plugin.tcl' already loaded, ignoring:
> 'D:/pd-0.48-1.msw/pd/extra/deken-plugin/deken-plugin.tcl'
> patcherize - turn objects into a subpatch
> triggerize - insert [trigger] ad lib.
> 
> for the plugins first the standard folder is inspected and after that
> the (changed) path in my preferences

the problem here is, that i don't know where you've installed Pd (what
you consider a standard folder) and which path you added in your
preferences.

> 
> there is no choice here for the user; besides removing (temporarely)
> unwanted plugins from the standard folder.

yes.

- GUI-plugins are only searched for at startup time (therefore you canot
load GUI-plugins with [declare])
- the search-paths are (as always) searched for in this order
  1. search-paths passed with "-path"
  2. search-paths saved in the preferences
  3. system search-paths
    3.1 user specific
    3.2 system specific
    3.3 Pd-specific
- whenever a GUI-plugin is detected (doing a simple filename match), it
is loaded (or at least, an attempt is started).

the only way to disable a GUI-plugin is by moving it out of the search-path.

there used to be a GUI-plugin that would provide you with a nice
clicky-interface to enable/disable other GUI-plugins (by moving them in
to /out of a non-searched path.

>>> BTW is there a way to declare a .pdsettings in the command-line?
>>> (i cannot find one).
>>
>> $ pd -help 2>&1 | grep -i pref
>> -prefs           -- load preferences on startup (true by default)
>> -noprefs         -- suppress loading preferences on startup
>> -prefsfile <file>  -- load preferences from a file
> 
> thanks for that.
> trying this out i found:
> the -prefsfile option does 'replace' the preferences.
> the 'load from..' in the preferences menu adds the prefs from the file
> to the existing ones.

Pd is not good at undoing system-wide settings.
e.g. once you've loaded a library, you cannot unload it.
this makes it quite complicated to "replace" preferences from the menu
(as a lot of preferences have already been applied non-reversible).

it's different from the cmdline (where you start with a pristine state).
it would be nice, however, to be able to load multiple preferences files
(and also so stack them, e.g. to specify a secondary prefs-file inside
the currently loaded one)

fgmasdr
IOhannes

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 833 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
URL: <http://lists.puredata.info/pipermail/pd-list/attachments/20180903/2b0461e2/attachment.sig>