Re: [matplotlib-devel] Release schedule for version 1.0.1?

[Benjamin R. <ben...@ou...>]

On Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 1:50 PM, John Hunter <jd...@gm...> wrote:

> On Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 1:11 PM, Christopher Barker
> <Chr...@no...> wrote:
> > On 10/25/10 1:41 PM, Daniel Hyams wrote:
> >> It doesn't really insist on it right?  There are MATPLOTLIBDIR and
> >> MPLCONFIGDIR environment variables.
> >
> >> You can set these env variables within your code, before import of
> >> matplotlib via os.environment.
> >
> > I'm glad I've learned about this, and will start doing it with my
> > bundled up apps -- but that does seem pretty un-pythonic -- shouldn't it
> > be possible to set this sort of thing without resorting to that little
> > round trip through environment variables?
> >
> > Not a big deal, but it feels kludgy.
>
> The MPLCONFIGDIR tells mpl where to find the config file.  It's hard
> to read the config, no matter how pythonic it is,  if you don't know
> where it is.  Once the config file (matplotlibrc) is located  you can
> set the datapath with the  'datapath' parameter so you don't need
> MATPLOTLIBDATA (which is only used if datapath is not set).  From the
> rc file:
>
>
>  # Where your matplotlib data lives if you installed to a non-default
>  # location.  This is where the matplotlib fonts, bitmaps, etc reside
>  #datapath : /home/jdhunter/mpldata
>
>
> We could use command line args, but mpl is a library and shouldn't
> really be using them...  Arguably we are already doing too much in the
> way of command line args.
>
> JDH
>
>
Isn't this a problem with any program/library?  Could we go a route where
(for *nix) we check the current working directory for the file, then check
the user account's .local directory, then check the /etc directory for the
any remaining settings?  Maybe for Windows use (dare I say it!) the
registry?

(Please excuse the registry idea if this completely flies in the face of
modern Windows development practices, I haven't programmed in Windows since
my days of taking AP Computer Science ten years ago).

Ben Root