| Re: [AD] Magic main in Windows |
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Daniel Schlyder wrote:
Err, it's called "My Documents" because, well, it's the directory where you
store your documents. I really don't see how that can be confusing.
Because to me, Documents = text files (txt, doc, etc). Configuration
data is config/init files (cfg, ini, etc).
Where else
would it be more appropriate to store variable game data that is only meant for
a specific user?
What ZDoom (a Win32 port of Doom) does is store the config data in
zdoom-<username>.ini in the program's directory. Originally, it did go
where it was "supposed to", but too many people complained because they
couldn't find it.
> Are you also saying that one shouldn't store this kind of data
under home dir on Linux?
As I said, most Linux users are proficient with the command line..
moreso than most Windows users. Plus, Unix has the home dir shortcut ~/
followed by ".<program>". Windows does not do this. That said, I
wouldn't mind at all if Linux programs kept config data in their own
directory.
Windows users mostly don't extract programs, they install them. And you say
"look in My Documents\My Games\(program name)" or just "My Documents\(program
name)". The "Application Data" folder is not placed under "My Documents" and it
is not meant for games.
Right, my mistake. Still, I used Windows until about 6 months or so
ago.. and I've never heard or seen a "My Documents\My Games" folder.
Windows users might prefer installers so that it hides the nitty gritty
details that it's throwing files around every which way, but as a Linux
user, I personally don't like installers for that very reason (besides
being plain uncommon).
What about RPMs, etc.? I thought those were very common.
Somewhat common maybe, but also troublesome. I've heard of a lot of
people having trouble with RPMs.
It's also very counter-intuitive to do for source distributions.
Which, of course, is not a valid argument against doing it for binary
distributions.
Considering most Allegro users opt for source distributions, since
that's really the only way to have a cross-platform distro, I think it's
still relevant. Sure, some also release Windows binaries but it'd just
be more work for the programmer to do.
That's not to say I think installers are inherently bad. I just think
that having an (un)installer is a poor reason to be able to throw files
anywhere on the drive.
When you put it that way, it sounds very negative. You don't throw files
anywhere on the drive, you copy them according to the OS standard.
It sounds negative, because (to me) it is negative. And I'd be wary of
follow an OS's standard when that OS is known to break standards..
including its own.
- Kitty Cat