Aloha, Don Simons [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] wrote:
> It has occurred to me from time to time that a default-override file > might be useful. There are a few drawbacks, though. Now, the output > from a given pmx file depends *only* on the binary, and that's a very > good thing. Among other advantages, that makes problem-solving via the > list a whole lot easier. Anyone with the same binary will get the same > tex file. Putting in my EUR 0.02: This is a very true remark and I heartily agree with it (both with the pro and the con). In my carreer as a professional programmer I've learnt that there are two important things in a growing software program: tracing & logging and configurability. When a software system grows, users (and testers) want different methods to configure it: e.g., by command line options, user & system configuration files, environment variables. Usually I support all of these, with different levels of preference, sometimes one method overriding the other, other times one augmenting the other. Btw, one of the difficulties is always the bootstrap: how do I configure the configuration (chicken/egg-problem)? But when the number of configurable options grows, so grows the need for a concise tracing & logging subsystem, so that at each point of the execution the user (or customer support, or the programmer) exactly knows which configuration options are in effect and where these have been set. Summarizing: Don, if you ever will give a second thought to expanding the configurability of pmx, maybe you can also consider the traceability of it. But don't feel yourself pushed: I've no complaints about pmx; on the contrary! Greetz, Arjen -- Arjen Bax | CMG Noord-Nederland B.V. | Postbus 70237 | 9704 AE Groningen | Eemsgolaan 1 | 9727 DW Groningen | The Netherlands | ICQ # 171090809 | TEL +31-50-5219500 | FAX +31-50-5219501 | WEB http://www.cmg.nl Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. -- Isaac Asimov _______________________________________________ TeX-music mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://sunsite.dk/mailman/listinfo/tex-music
