[Octave-bug-tracker] [bug #59821] "pkg update" on windows unexpectedly installs packages to local

[Markus Mützel]

Follow-up Comment #29, bug #59821 (project octave):

That might be an issue because I'm no native speaker.
But I'd understand the section you cited differently:

Global packages are installed by default in a system-wide location.  This is
usually a subdirectory of the folder where Octave itself is installed.
Therefore, Octave needs write access to this folder to install global
packages, which is usually only available when Octave is run with
administrative rights.  That means to install packages globally Octave checks
if
it is executing as root (superuser) on Unix-like systems, or it is running
with elevated privileges ("Run as administrator") on Windows.


This section doesn't mention that this *only* affects the *default* value for
global/local (i.e. if the respective switches are *not* passed explicitly).
It also suggests that this test is *always* performed for a global package
installation.
The section doesn't sound to me like it contains a *definition* of
"administrative rights" for the remainder of the text.


@@ -151,8 +155,9 @@
 ##
 ## @item update
 ## Check installed Octave Forge packages against repository and update any
-## outdated items.  This requires an internet connection and the cURL
library.
-## Usage:
+## outdated items.  Updated packages are installed either globally or
locally
+## depending on whether elevated privileges are detected.  This requires an
+## internet connection and the cURL library.  Usage:
 ##
 ## @example
 ## pkg update


"elevated privileges" is used without defining what that would mean, e.g. on
Linux.
The added sentence also suggests that the installation destination depends on
that condition *only*. Is that really the case? IIUC, passing "-global" or
"-local" is still possible with that option.


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