Bram Moolenaar wrote:
[...]
I don't see how getting rid of hardcoded directories in the source
code is going to cause problems for users ;) In fact, hardcoded
directories may cause problems: if you modify "src/Makefile" and don't
reflect those changes in the source, for example. Of course, end users
shouldn't modify things under "src/Makefile" if they're marked as "DON'T
MODIFY THIS", but they don't have to work hard to do that and it will
cause problems.
The warning is there:
### Location of Vim files (should not need to be changed, and
### some things might not work when they are changed!)
[...]
Even though the README mentions it (recommends it?), personally I don't
believe in modifying the Makefile. In my experience, all useful compile-time
settings for Vim can be set without modifying the Makefile (or the
src/Make_*.mak), by means of environment variables and/or command-line
arguments to the "make" program. The former can be set permanently (such as,
for W32, the location or version of a certain interpreted language) and both
can be set in a shell script wrapper, so they don't have to be re-input at
every compile.
I also believe in installing programs in their standard locations, even if
installing elsewhere might cause no trouble: if a standard install doesn't
work in the standard location, it's probably a bug; in a nonstandard location,
it could quite well be a false maneuver.
Best regards,
Tony.
