[OS X TeX] /usr/local/texprograms -> /Library/ActiveTeXPrograms

[Jérome Laurens]

Le 30 nov. 06 à 08:49, Bruno Voisin a écrit :

> Le 30 nov. 06 à 07:38, Gerben Wierda a écrit :
>
>> On Nov 30, 2006, at 01:20 , Jérome Laurens wrote:
>>
>>> Le 29 nov. 06 à 23:59, Gerben Wierda a écrit :
>>>
>>>> So, I am planning to do this in terms of links:
>>>>
>>>> /Library/gwTeX -> ../../usr/local/gwTeX
>>>> /Library/ActiveTeXPrograms -> ../../usr/local/gwTeX/bin/i386- 
>>>> apple-darwin-current (on intel)
>>>> /Library/ActiveTeXPrograms -> ../../usr/local/gwTeX/bin/powerpc- 
>>>> apple-darwin-current (on ppc)
>>>
>>> According to my mail 	[OS X TeX] /Library/TeX (was local vs.  
>>> global symlink) I would prefer
>>>
>>> /Library/TeX/distribution/gwTeX
>>
>> This is very deep down and that maks it more hidden for the user.
>>
>>> /Library/TeX/active-programs or maybe just /Library/TeX/programs
>>
>> I like the Active in the name as it says what the link means.
>
> While I don't care that much about whether it's Programs or Active  
> Programs in directory names, I do care about proper and consistent  
> use of capitalization and punctuation in file names. Why forget  
> about uppercase? Why introduce hyphens?

Unfortunately, capitalization is partly "gobbled" by the HFS+ file  
system and dots do have a meaning in file names.
So the notion of consistency is constrained by the file system.

Moreover, what we can observe is that in Mac OS X, folders with  
capitalized names are used by the finder whereas folders with  
lowercase letters only are used by the CLI. As far as I understand,  
the TeX programs in question are not applications and will not be  
used by the Finder. So lowercase letters are consistent with de facto  
Mac OS X usage.

Using lowercase only letters indicates that this is a special object.

Using hyphens is a standard workaround for the space character problem.
Iiproposed hyphens because Gerben already used hyphens.

Given mpm and texdoc utilities, I would say that the average user  
does not need to browse the texmf tree at all.


>
> In short, /Library/TeX/ActivePrograms or /Library/TeX/Programs feel  
> fine, as do (a bit less) /Library/ActiveTeXPrograms or /Library/ 
> TeXPrograms, but please don't make them /Library/TeX/active- 
> programs or /Library/TeX/programs. The aim is to make symlinks in  
> as natural a language as possible to esoteric paths like /usr/local/ 
> gwTeX/bin/i386-apple-darwin-current. And natural language does  
> include capital letters. If it were only to satisfy my taste, the  
> symlinks would include spaces as well (as in /Library/TeX/Active  
> Programs), but technical reasons seem to prohibit this for TeX. Oh  
> well...


This esoteric path is a technical one.
It is not expected to be exposed to the average user,
so it is perfectly acceptable that standard naming conventions are  
followed.

BTW, I completely agree with you that names should be as natural as  
possible, except that "natural" takes different meanings according to  
once culture. Some would have preferred
/Library/TeX/Programmes actifs

I let you imagine the rest.

There is a mean to localize the folder names in Mac OS X but it is  
not straightforward.


>
> About the matter of /Library/TeX/ActiveTexmfLocal, I don't think  
> that can work: given the various distros (teTeX-based i-Package,  
> TeXLive-based i-Package, TeXLive DVD) contain different texmf  
> trees, the user may want to complement each of them with a specific  
> texmf.local or texmf-local tree. Hence you would need to create a  
> separate symlink for each distro-specific texmf.local tree. And the  
> level of complexity that would generate would end up breaking one  
> of the purposes of this symlink business: create clear and natural  
> pointers to the various parts a user might want to inspect inside  
> the insanely complex file hierarchies of the various TeX distros.

Well, who ever wants to "inspect inside the insanely complex file  
hierarchies"? Except you, of course ;-)

More seriously, people having more than one distribution at the same  
time, switching from one another, customizing each one are more like  
geeks. So they should be able to make /Library/TeX/ActiveTexmfLocal a  
symlink that points to the appropriate stuff.



>
> Bruno Voisin------------------------- Info --------------------------
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------------------------- Info --------------------------
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