Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Path: utzoo!utdoe!david
From: david@doe.utoronto.ca (David Megginson)
Subject: Re: Standardized disk layout/folder names
Message-ID: <1991Mar21.160132.25986@doe.utoronto.ca>
Reply-To: david@doe.utoronto.ca (David Megginson)
Organization: Dictionary of Old English Project, University of Toronto
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 1991 16:01:32 GMT


In <2232@lee.SEAS.UCLA.EDU>, Plinio Barbeito/ writes:
> Again, as long as we're on the subject of standards, how do people
> feel about having some sort of disk layout standard, like Unix has
> (i.e. the binaries are kept in /bin, system database files are kept in
> /etc, user files are kept in /usr, manuals for programs are kept in
> /usr/man, and so on).

Even Unix is not entirely standard, which is why Makefiles usually
allow you to modify absolute pathnames for your system. That works
fine for Unix, where practically all free programs are distributed
in source-code form and all systems have a C compiler, but it would
not work so well on the ST, where much of the distribution is in
binary form, and absolute pathnames are usually replaced with environment
variables. Until the ST support symlinks (ie. never), I don't think
that we will ever be able to lay down a set of absolute rules for 
pathnames. The best bet is the Unixmode standard, which will allow
you to refer to (say) c:/bin as /bin, etc. Eric Smith may build the
standard into a future version of MiNT.

-- 
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/  David Megginson                      david@doe.utoronto.ca          /
/  Centre for Medieval Studies          meggin@vm.epas.utoronto.ca     /
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