Hi Wayne, I am taking this as temporary preapproval for a packages3d change. I will have a patch this week for your approval and hopefully by then the rest of the OS X devs have discussed the Documents search path change, so we can get nightlies out!
I think I may literally throw a party when I get OS X nightlies pushed. Anyone else near Minneapolis MN? :) Adam Wolf Cofounder and Engineer Wayne and Layne On Jan 12, 2015 8:45 AM, "Wayne Stambaugh" <[email protected]> wrote: > I agree with your logic but there may be some user issues if you change > the packages3D install path. Users who don't use the KISYS3DMOD > environment variable may loose the link to their 3D models. You'll have > to look at the library path search code to see which paths are currently > supported before you make any changes. Otherwise, you could have some > unhappy users. Of course, you could modify the search path code to > include any new paths before changing the install path of packages3d. > This is a short term solution (think next stable release). At some > point we should create some type of library table (similar to > fp-lib-table) support for 3D model libraries and schematic component > libraries. Then we can remove the library search path code and all of > it's known issues from kicad (yeah!!!). > > On 1/12/2015 2:15 AM, Adam Wolf wrote: > > I think this idea has merit. > > > > If we are discussing large changes to the OS X paths, can I ask for > > another? Let's move packages3d/ outside of modules/, so I can have > > users who download kicad-extras drag and drop a modules directory full > > of checked out github footprints into their ~/Documents/kicad/ (or > > whatever...) directory, without having to include packages3d/ in both > > the kicad and kicad-extras dmg. > > > > Adam Wolf > > Cofounder and Engineer > > W&L > > > > On Mon, Jan 12, 2015 at 12:56 AM, Collin Anderson > > <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > > > > Hi, I wanted to give some thoughts on the paths KiCad uses under OS > > X, and some options to wrangle them all into something more unified > > and easier to deal with in a non-breaking way. > > > > I'll get right to it: > > > > 1. KiCad should never store, nor require, anything in /Library. > > This is a root-owned, non-user writable directory, including > > /Library/Application Support, and is only used if absolutely > > necessary. It requires sudo or administrator privileges to create > > and write to a kicad folder in /Library/Application Support. > > /Library/Application Support is strictly for files that are to > > remain invisible and are managed entirely automatically by a .app > > bundle, and need to be shared between users on the system, but for > > whatever reason cannot be stored in the .app bundle. The Apple > > developer documentation makes it clear that /Library and ~/Llibrary > > must never contain files the user might need to interact with > > directly, and these directories are intentionally hidden and OS X > > actively discourages manual use of these directories, to the point > > that they are completely invisible even if the Finder is set to show > > invisible files. KiCad should still look here, but the only reason > > to create anything in /Library/Application Support is if an > > administrator wants everyone to have certain custom assets, and > > manually install them here. They cannot be modified after that, and > > should not be part of the normal KiCad install/usage mode. But files > > the user will ever interact with must not be kept in either /Library > > or ~/Library > > > > Source: > https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/General/Conceptual/MOSXAppProgrammingGuide/AppRuntime/AppRuntime.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40010543-CH2-SW9 > > (requires a free apple developer account sadly) > > > > 2. It's ok, and in fact, preferred, to store per-user copies of > > updatable assets like a lot of what is in the kicad-library folder. > > This correctly integrates with features like Time Machine, File > > Vault, and User Migration. This may seem like a terrible waste of > > space, but wasting space is how OS X likes to do things. A lot of > > design decisions have gone towards decoupling a lot of things that > > could be shared by making copies (like all the dylibs and frameworks > > in .app bundles, for example, making OS X apps balloon to...well, > > Doc Brown would say 1.21 jiggabytes). Looking in my own > > ~/Library/Application Support folder, there are tons of things that > > could be shared but aren't. That, and if anyone did want to make a > > change (which presumably is why they are stored in > > ~/Library/Application Support to begin with, since if the files > > don't need to be writeable, they are simply stored in the .app > > bundle), they do not need administrator privileges. Sure, I know > > the rational is that the assets will automagically be updated using > > git, and that's great, and you want to avoid doing this over and > > over on a multiuser system. BUT, what if something bad happens, > > someone screws up and makes a bad commit that breaks someones > > project? Or a crash our power outage dies and corrupts assets, but > > there is no administrator around to clean up or do a git --reset > > hard on /Library? If those assets are stored in the user's library > > instead, that user can simply use Time Machine to return to an > > earlier snapshot and in either scenario, they simply continue > working. > > > > Beyond that, maybe they just didn't want to update anything, and > > someone else does :). It's silly, but people do strange things. > > > > 3. BUT, the ~/Library folder is, just like /Library, never to be > > used for files the user will need to manage or interact with. Only > > files created automatically and managed automatically by > > applications are meant to reside here. Given that the user may wish > > to install or modify things in this folder, and at least for now has > > to manually install things to it and can't do this form within the > > KiCad app, there really should not be anything stored in ~/Library > > either. If an app does not ask the user specifically, the perferred > > location for files a user may need to interact with is ~/Documents. > > This is why, for example, the Arduino IDE stores its libraries, and > > allows custom cores and all sorts of things to override its default > > settings (stored in the .app) by simply managing the > > ~/Documents/Arduino folder. It's acceptalbe, familiar, and OS X > > user friendly to store customizable support files in their > > ~/Documents folder. It's the folder for stuff the user can mess > > with, not just user-created stuff. > > > > Anyway, I am not advocating the removal of any of the current search > > paths, but rather adding ~/Documents/KiCad (let's use proper case > > and make it look nice - KiCad vs kicad - while we're at it :) ) and > > give this path the highest precedence - the user should be able to > > override whatever might be installed elsewhere with whatever they > > put in this folder. It would also be a nice place to store > > documentation if it is auto updated in the future. > > > > I have actually already made these changes in my, uh, personal > > version of KiCad, and would be happy to put them in a branch, but I > > didn't want to just shove all this in a merge request, since its a > > pretty big change to, well, policy on OS X. I am a newcommer, and > > its totally possible I missed something and there are very good > > reasons for how things are done now, and beyond that, maybe no one > > else wants to do any of this, has a better idea, or doesn't like > > this one. Which is fine. These are just suggestions coming from a > > long time mac user, and if any of this is something the other devs > > would like to look into, I'll put up the branch (it also changes > > comments and documentation to reflect the path changes - I did it a > > while ago then realized how big of a change I was doing and sort of > > put it on the back burner). > > > > If this is not something anyone is interested in, I completely > > understand and I will not mention or press for it again. Please > > don't think I am trying to to tell anyone here what to do - I defer > > to the judgement of all the people who actually wrote those 500,000+ > > lines of code, of course :). Sorry about the length again. I am > > very bad at being concise :(. > > > > -- > > "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." - Isaac Asimov > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers > > Post to : [email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]> > > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers > > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers > > Post to : [email protected] > > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers > > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers > Post to : [email protected] > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp >
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