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[Alpha-Bugzilla Bug 1953] RFE: Make "Smarter Source" an "always-on" package
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From: Alpha-Bugzilla <alp...@ic...> - 2005-12-24 08:23:13
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http://rutherglen.ics.mq.edu.au/~alpha-bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=1953 ------- Additional Comments From bde...@ea... 2005-12-24 19:23 AEST ------- Subject: Re: New: RFE: Make "Smarter Source" an "always-on" package Craig wrote: > >Several months ago, back when we were discussing the embedding of AlphaTcl >within the AlphaX bundle, somebody (Aaron?) suggested making the "Smarter >Source" feature an "always-on" package. This makes a lot of sense to me. >One principle that I hope we adopt is that users should _never_ modify any >files within the bundle, except via cvs updates; > I agree. >we should design routines >that instead assume that SUPPORT(global) and SUPPORT(user) folders are in >play, copying files to relevant SUPPORT folders for modification by the user. > > Just a detail: we had decided to call the keys of this array "user" and "local" (not "global") in order to conform with the OSX terminology (kUserDomain, kLocalDomain, kNetworkDomain and kSystemDomain). >For the user who never modifies an AlphaTcl file, turning on Smarter Source >makes no difference at all, since the Smarter Source Folder will never >contain any relevant files. There is no performance degradation, and >absolutely no change in the User Interface. > >For those users who are inclined to use Smarter Source files, perhaps >because of a suggestion from a helpful developer, s/he should be able to >simply place a modified file in an obvious folder in order to tweak Alpha's >behavior. Why make them take the extra step of turning on a new feature? >The ability to add SUPPORT and/or Smarter Source files can be very important >for multi-user systems. > Still we should not confuse these two features: the Smarter Source folder is designed to contain modifications and add-ons for the files officially present in the AlphaTcl library, while the "Application Support/Tcl" folder (subdivided into Menus, Modes, Packages) is meant for third party packages. So I think it is important to leave the possibility for the user to change the location of the Smarter Source folder. Currently the Smarter Source thing is designed on a "per-Alpha-installation" basis, not on a user basis: a same user can have different versions of AlphaX (core or library) with different Smarter Source folders. This brings another question: I have the feeling that something is missing in the picture. What if a sys admin wants to tweak Alpha's behaviour for all the users on a certain machine. > > > >This suggestion does assume that the SUPPORT array exists, so implementing >this change would be require that the AlphaTcl initialization sequence either >requires the creation of this variable by the core, or defines it when >necessary as suggested in another post. > > Yes I agree that there should probably be a check that the core has done its job properly. Still it is the core's task to create the relevant folders (in the local and the user's domains). >**************** > >Assume that you agree that, for the normal user, turning on Smarter Source by >default makes sense. For the AlphaTcl developer, the ability to turn Smarter >Source _off_ is still potentially useful. If, for example, the developer has >several Smarter Source files in play but wants to check out the behavior of >the default AlphaTcl installation, being able to turn off Smarter Source is >preferable to removing/renaming files in the Smarter Source Folder. > > Good point: if it is always on, we should have a possibility to turn it off. I'm just wondering how much this should be exposed: if turning the Smarter Source folder always on by default aims to simplify the documentation, the possibility of turning it off too easily would create difficult to debug situations, where we should have to ask the user "did you by any chance disable the Smarter Sources package" Oh sorry, I had not read the next paragraph when I wrote this. It seems to answer my point. >I would suggest that the Smarter Source package create a new preference named >"Use Smarter Source Files" that would be turned on by default, but only be >exposed to the user if the AlphaDev Menu is activated. This could perhaps be >presented as a toggleable menu item, similar to "Warning For Obsolete Procs". >When this item is selected, the user would be prompted to rebuild package >indices and quit Alpha. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Configure bugmail: http://rutherglen.ics.mq.edu.au/~alpha-bugzilla/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are the assignee for the bug, or are watching the assignee. You are on the CC list for the bug, or are watching someone who is. -- This e-mail has been automatically generated by the Alpha-Bugzilla bugsystem <http://rutherglen.ics.mq.edu.au/~alpha-bugzilla/>. Please direct replies to the maintainer <st...@ic...>. |