Re: Best distribution layout on mingw? (was Re: GNUSTEP_USER_CONFIG problem (Windows))

[Sheldon Gill]

Richard Frith-Macdonald wrote:
> On 6 Dec 2005, at 05:33, Richard Frith-Macdonald wrote:
>
> > On 5 Dec 2005, at 23:07, Lloyd Dupont wrote:
> >
> > > > > Actually, I thought it was needed for deployment (esp. for MS-  
> > > > > Windows).
> > > > >  If an was build with C:/GNUstep/System but has to be installed in
> > >
> > > it would be VERY nice indeed if you could simply put the  
> > > GNUstep.conf file in the same directory as the dll to be found  
> > > automatically.
> >
> >
> > You can ... thats' the way (well, a major one of the ways) the new  
> > config file system is intended to be used on windows (configure -- 
> > with-config-file=./GNUstep.conf).
> >
> > I've added some documentation for this in the filesystem document  in 
> > the make package ... needs to be more extensive and polished,  but 
> > it's a start.
> > I'm also going to try to improve the configure scripts in make and  
> > base to try and get them to make better choices about where to put  
> > things on windows when you don't explicitly give them instructions  
> > with the various options like --with-config-file=
>
>
> What IS the appropriate directory layout for distributing a gnustep  
> application along with all resources on windows?

I think the answer is different for the two cases:

1) Stand-alone application

  Program Files\NSoft\Amazing.app
    \Resources
    \Library

  All executables in top layer. Current CVS doesn't support this.

2) GS-Runtime + application

   Program Files\Common Files\GNUstep
     \Library
     \Tools

   Program Files\NSoft\Amazing.app
     \Resources

> I'm guessing we want the config file, the libraries and the  executables 
> all in the same location, but it's ok to have other  resources in the 
> normal directory hierarchy below that top directory.
>
> If that's the case, the simplest way to do it would probably be to  add 
> a script to the make package which would simply move the  libraries and 
> executables from their subdirectories to the top level  after a normal 
> installation, and generate a GNUstep.conf file in that  directory.
>
> Any better ideas?

Yes, registry support.

For the stand-alone situation
 - build base with configure --registry-key="Software\NSoft\Amazing"

   The values in the key control things.

This way we can have the executables and libraries in different directories but 
not break anything.

There are also security and system administration benefits.


Regards,
Sheldon