This is getting too overcomplicated. I suggest simplifying your environment rather than jumping through artificially constructed hoops.
J has the ability to work with relative folders. Folders relative to where it is started or relative to a constant configuration. You could run J from a USB drive, but it is better to use USB drive only as a transfer/back up media, and copy the files to a desktop. Even if these are different desktops: Mac, Linux, Windows--you should be able to do your stuff without absolute paths, let alone drive letters. That's how addons work. It would have been a nightmare to handle absolute paths or drive letters. Instead of USB drives, the SVN is used for addons and it works nicely between platforms. > From: bill lam <[email protected]> > > On Mon, 16 Nov 2009, Gilles Kirouac wrote: > > > > Symbolic links and volume mounting à la Unix exist in MS-Win. > > > > Could mounting a volume (grafting the root folder of a local volume) > > be useful? > > How to map, eg > f:\abc\de to g:\abc\de > > where f: and g: removable disk of usb key and either f: or g: may not > exist at that time. > > From: Henry Rich <[email protected]> > > Oh, I see now. That's an idea. > > But wait, there's a problem: the profile that I need at home is > different from what I need at school. So I have my original problem, > but pushed back to the time J starts. > > Maybe that would be the place to solve it once and for all, through. > > Henry > > Sherlock, Ric wrote: > > Sorry I understood that part of the problem was that the drive letter of > > the > usb drive with your code on it was unpredictable. > > I was thinking that if you started J from a folder on your usb you could > always ask J for the binpath and define all your project paths relative to > that. > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Henry Rich > > Sent: Friday, 13 November 2009 16:58 > > To: Beta forum > > Subject: Re: [Jbeta] Projects on USB drives WAS: Project Files > > > > > > J itself is not the problem. J always knows where its own directories > > and folders are. > > > > Henry > > > > Sherlock, Ric wrote: > >> Would installing J on the USB drive too so that it is always in the same > place relative to the code folders help solve some of the problems? > >> > >> Regards, > >> Ric > >> > >>> From: Henry Rich > >>> > >>> I have started putting the code I work on on a USB drive. This allows > >>> me to work on it whether I am at home or at school, which speeds up > >>> development enormously. There are some kinks that I am trying to work > >>> around, and occurs to me that as long as we are discussing Project > >>> Manager, maybe some of these problems can be addressed. > >>> > >>> The environment is: code is on my USB drive; the resulting apps need to > >>> be built on different machines with different targets: at school, a > >>> network drive where all teachers can get to them, at home my home PC or > >>> the USB drive itself. > >>> > >>> The problems are: > >>> > >>> 0. You never know what disk letter a USB drive is going to get. Some > >>> machines it is E, other H, others I. How do I set up the folder > >>> containing the project so it can be seen on different machines? I have > >>> a roaming profile so the J profile is the same everywhere; but this > >>> means the folder's drive letter is wrong most places. > >>> > >>> This is basically a deficiency in the folder system. I have worked > >>> around it my having a program that sniffs out the drive that my stuff > >>> is > >>> on, and modifies USERFOLDERS_j_. This is a kludge in that if I run > >>> Edit|Configure, USERFOLDERS can get set back to its unmodified state. > >>> I > >>> think I want some intelligent folder definition that works with USB > >>> drives. > >>> > >>> 1. The target varies from system to system. At school, I must build > >>> to > >>> a subdirectory of X: which is our shared tools disk. At home, I would > >>> be happy to build to the USB drive itself. > >>> > >>> My workaround has been to create an X: drive at home. This is a > >>> kludge, and not transferable to other environments. What is needed is > >>> a > >>> general way to have the targets, and perhaps some of the sources, > >>> depend > >>> on which machine I am on. > >>> > >>> 2. I need backup! I am getting old enough that remembering where I > >>> put > >>> my keys is a challenge - what happens if I lose my USB drive? I back > >>> up > >>> the drive by hand, but I think that a 'backup' target, that just saves > >>> everything, might be a good idea. It might even be helpful to take > >>> backup every time Project Manager starts. > >>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
