Per user dirs on Non-Unix platforms (was Re: [Python-Dev] Where to install non-code files)

[Fred L. Drake]

On Sun, 28 May 2000, Guido van Rossum wrote:
 > > Idea: Wouldn't it be nice if the 'nt' and 'mac' versions of the 'os'
 > > module would provide 'os.environ["HOME"]' similar to the posix
 > > version?  This would certainly simplify the task of application
 > > programmers intending to write portable applications.
 > 
 > This sounds like a nice idea...

  Now that this idea has fermented for a few days, I'm inclined to not
like it.  It smells of making Unix-centric interface to something that
isn't terribly portable as a concept.
  Perhaps there should be a function that does the "right thing",
extracting os.environ["HOME"] if defined, and taking an alternate approach
(os.getcwd() or whatever) otherwise.  I don't think setting
os.environ["HOME"] in the library is a good idea because that changes the
environment that gets published to child processes beyond what the
application does.


  -Fred


-- 
Fred L. Drake, Jr.  <fdrake at acm.org>