#33 mechanism for overriding frontier.root values

This idea is a little hazy but it has been a desideratum of mine
since early days. Let's take html.refGlossary as an example. I
don't agree with the way this is implemented, and in fact in certain
circumstances it needs changing (in 1999, for example, I had to
change it in order to make mainresponder serve guest-database-
based sites properly). However, if everyone goes around with their
own version of html.refGlossary, it's hard to provide support; plus,
updating my root is a nightmare (I must copy off all places where
I've made changes into a secure location, lest the update override
them, and then I must restore the changes manually). Hence it
would be nice to have some mechanism for overriding; for
example, a gdb could be called overrides.root and anything in it
would overshadow anything by the same name in Frontier.root.
This would allow Frontier.root to remain more "virgin". This
overrides.root (or whatever it's called) could also be the home for
user settings and apps. As you can see, what I'm suggesting
architecturally (and this is hardly the first time it's been suggested)
is that we eventually provide a mechanism whereby Frontier.root
does not need to be modified by the user. There was a day when
Frontier.root was the only root and was the only thing you *could*
modify, but with the advent of GDBs this changed, and I'm
suggesting that we simply complete the thought, as it were. Both
the mechanism and the interface would require careful
consideration (interface example: when I Jump to
html.refGlossary, what should I be shown? probably the dialog
should offer me a choice when it sees there's an override).

[Anonymous]

Logged In: YES
user_id=225318

Yes, sounds like a good idea. The DiskImages framework in Mac OS X
has a similiar feature, that of "shadow" files - 'man hdiutil' for details.

Perhaps one method of implementation could have a virgin (read-only)
Frontier.root as part of the Frontier application bundle, and user
modifications go into the user visible root (whether it be a GDB or a
Frontier "shadow" root) outside the application bundle.

Yes, agree with the careful consideration.