[Python-Dev] proto-pep: plugin proposal (for unittest)

[Michael Foord]

On 02/08/2010 11:48, Ronald Oussoren wrote:
>
>
> On 02 Aug, 2010,at 11:48 AM, Michael Foord <fuzzyman at voidspace.org.uk> 
> wrote:
>
>> On 02/08/2010 07:18, Ronald Oussoren wrote:
>>> On 2 Aug, 2010, at 7:18, Glyph Lefkowitz wrote:
>>>
>>>    
>>>> On Aug 1, 2010, at 3:52 PM, Ronald Oussoren wrote:
>>>>
>>>>      
>>>>> On 1 Aug, 2010, at 17:22, Éric Araujo wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>        
>>>>>>> Speaking of which... Your documentation says it's named ~/unittest.cfg,
>>>>>>> could you make this a file in the user base (that is, the prefix where
>>>>>>> 'setup.py install --user' will install files)?
>>>>>>>            
>>>>>> Putting .pydistutils.cfg .pypirc .unittest2.cfg .idlerc and possibly
>>>>>> other in the user home directory (or %APPDATA% on win32 and
>>>>>> what-have-you on Mac) is unnecessary clutter. However, $PYTHONUSERBASE
>>>>>> is not the right directory for configuration files, as pointed in
>>>>>> http://bugs.python.org/issue7175
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It would be nice to agree on a ~/.python (resp. %APPADATA%/Python) or
>>>>>> $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/python directory and put config files there.
>>>>>>          
>>>>> ~/Library/Python would be a good location on OSX, even if the 100% formally correct location would be ~/Preferences/Python (at least of framework builds, unix-style builds may want to follow the unix convention).
>>>>>        
>>>> "100% formally" speaking, MacOS behaves like UNIX in many ways.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_UNIX_Specification#Mac_OS_X_and_Mac_OS_X_Server>
>>>>      
>>> Storing files in unix location will be confusing to many Mac users, Apple has an explicitly documented convention for where to store files and dot-files in the user's home directory aren't part of that convention.
>>>
>>> An important reason for storing files in ~/Library/Python of ~/Library/Preferences/Python is that these locations are both logical for mac users and can be navigated to from the Finder without resorting to typing the folder name in "Go ->  Go to Folder".
>>>
>>>    
>>
>> Really? As a Mac user I have never edited (or even looked at) files 
>> in ~/Library. I would never think of going there for finding config 
>> files to edit. However in my home directory I have:
>>
>> .Xauthority
>> .Xcode
>> . CFUserTextEncoding - (an Apple encoding configuration for Core 
>> Foundation)
>> .bash_profile
>> .cups
>> .dropbox
>> .dvdcss
>> .filezilla
>> .fontconfig
>> .hgrc
>> .idlerc
>> .ipython
>> .mono
>> .netbeans
>> .parallels_settings
>> .pypirc
>> .wingide3
>>
>> Actually that is just a small selection of the .config 
>> files/directories in my home directory. It is certainly *a* standard 
>> location for config files on the Mac, including some Apple software 
>> (XCode) and Python applications.
> The only apple one that is actually used is the .CFUserTextEncoding 
> file, I have an .Xcode in my home as well but that is empty and last 
> updated in 2007. AFAIK current versions of Xcode store preferences in 
> ~/Library/Preferences. Most of the other ones are ports of unix tools 
> and store junk in the standard unix location for storing 
> configuration. Try edit one without resorting to the command-line, 
> with a default configuration of the Finder you cannot even see these 
> files (and that includes the File open dialog of tools like Text Edit)
>
> The reason you don't normally look in ~/Library/Preferences is that 
> GUI tools on OSX have configuration screens for editing preferences 
> and you don't have to edit them manually.

Right, so what you are saying is that for user editable text config 
files ~/Library/Preferences is *not* a convention - and in fact the unix 
convention of dot files in the home directory is commonly used on the 
Mac. :-)

Michael

>
>>
>>
>> My preference would be to follow this established and well used 
>> convention.
> My preference is still to use ~/Library/Python (or a subdirectory 
> thereof) and filenames that don't start with a dot.
>
> Ronald


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