[tex-live] Feedback on TeX Live 2008 network installer under Win/XP :

Philip TAYLOR P.Taylor at Rhul.Ac.Uk
Thu Aug 7 20:55:44 CEST 2008



Norbert Preining wrote:
> On Mi, 06 Aug 2008, Philip TAYLOR (Ret'd) wrote:
>>>> 4) "Use ~ for HOME/USERPROFILE" is not meaningful (to me).
>>> A better phrasing would be welcome.
>> I really mean it's not meaningful to me, not I'm
>> being deliberately opaque.  Tell me what it means
> 
> Ok, what is meant:
> 	If you use ~ in the string you enter then it will be expanded
> 	to the current settings of $HOME (on unix) and %USERPROFILE% (on
> 	win32)

Argh : elsewhere "/" is used as a path separator,
hence I thought that "HOME/USERPROFILE" was a
path :-(((

> 
>> in plain English, and I'll try to come up with
>> a reasonable way of expressing it.
> 
> That would be great.

As soon as I've had tea :-)
> 
>>>> 5) TEXMFHOME (...) ~/texmf : the concept of tilde is
>>>> 	not a Windows concept.  I would like to specify
>>>> 	"My documents/TeX/ here, but there is no browse	
>>>> 	button and "My documents" is not a normal path.
>>> A browse button for the parent of TEXDIR would have been nice, but
>>> would require too much redesigning of the GUI: asking users whether
>>> or not they want the 2008 level etc. Again, too late for this
>>> release.
>> OK, browse not possible in timescale, but how about
>> offering a default that has a meaning in the
>> Windows world (which ~/texmf does not).
> 
> It *HAS* a meaning and should NOT be changed!!!
> 
> The point is: Immagine a windows system with more than 1 user, which is
> possible! NOw if you set
> 	TEXMFHOME = c:/Documents and Settings/User1
> then User1 will have good luck, but User2 will have to use User1
> directories for saving *his* files.
> 
> Using 
> 	TEXMFHOME = ~/texmf
> in texmf.cnf allows that *every* user (on unix and win32) can use his 
> home dir (%USERPROFILE%/texmf on win32) to put files.
> 
> That is new in the Windows world, I agree, but Windows and Unix are
> coming at least in TeX Live closer together.

That part I (sort of) understand, but my point was that
"~/texmf" is not meaningful to a Windows user, even if
internally it makes sense to the system.  So from a
documentation perspective, it would be better to use
a more platform-neutral convention ...

More when I've eaten : my brain is starting to shut down
from lack of food.

** Phil.


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