On Thu, Sep 16, 2021 at 01:21:15PM -0400, Elsie Hupp wrote: > >>> I have pondered this for a while now and could also not find > >>> anything via search engine or on this list, so I figured I actually > >>> ask the ones who wrote the spec. > >> > >> I did not write the spec, but I have implemented it. I'm uncertain > >> whether those who did write it hang around here. > > > > I was hoping they would be, or is there a better way of contacting them? > > The authors all have individual email addresses at the top of the > specification:
I did notice that, but why ask them privately? Mailing lists are there so a question can be answered *once*, and the record stays online for others to find. I did my due diligence before asking here by searching the archive. But I seem to be first one to ask. From now on others can at least find that it has been asked and maybe won't have to bother the authors again. > >> Anyway, your questions seem to fall more in the general system > >> administration area than in the area of the spec itself. > > > > I respectfully disagree, since it is a question about what should or > > maybe should *not* happen at compile time or at runtime, respectively. I > > am asking for a general way to make the software redistributable but > > still installable locally, like virtually every software project makes > > possible. The admin/user *should* have nothing more to do than making > > sure that PATH is set correctly to have /usr/local take precedence, but > > that is already taken care of in virtually every distro. > > It may be worthwhile to add more guidance about “best practices” to > the text of the specification, even without any changes to the > underlying implementations. That is one outcome I would welcome. I am still not ruling out that my thought process is off by missing what XDG_CONFIG_DIRS is intended to be used for. Currently, I am leaning towards: don't use it at runtime, check it at compile time prepend PREFIX and configure the software to hardcode that value. Best, PW
