Developer domain (was: Re: GNUstep directory layout)

[Tim Harrison]

Adam Fedor wrote:

> Actually, if there is no Developer domain, then there really is less 
> restraint. There is nothing that prevents anyone from adding a Developer 
> domain (user, sysadmin, and/or package maintainer) and installing stuff 
> there. Making the Developer domain mandatory actually reduces the 
> flexibility that people have to put things where they want.

I personally think that a developer domain in GNUstep would be a further 
abstraction from the user.

A developer, by definition, is a user on the box.  There's already a 
domain for users, called Users, where the developer resides.  As GNUstep 
appears to be, primarily, a rapid application development environment, 
all domains within the GNUstep system are related to development, and 
the running of applications developed within the GNUstep environment. 
In that mode of thinking the encompassing domain is Developer, with 
System, Local, Network, and Users thereunder.

I also think that the development tools should be installed in 
/Local/Applications, as /System should be reserved for the distribution 
or necessary system files.  Things like Gorm and ProjectCenter are not 
necessary for the GNUstep environment to function, so they should remain 
within the /Local domain.  If a distribution wishes to include a copy 
of, say, GWorkspace, they could install it in /System/Applications.

Now, of course, the person running the GNUstep environment has the 
ultimate choice, if they are the administrator of the box.  They could 
put things wherever they wished.  However, for consistency, I'd suggest 
that developer tools be placed by default in the /Local hierarchy.


--

Tim Harrison
tim@linuxstep.org
http://www.linuxstep.org/