Regarding config settings, I wrote:
>> - Windows prefers that such things go into the Registry, but that >> not be appropriate to use as a default in the case of Freenet. In response, Zem asked: > Can you suggest a reason it wouldn't be appropriate? I can think of two offhand: 1) Support. Each difference between the UNIX and MS versions is a potential cross-platform bug. Such bugs are of particular concern when your staff is small, unpaid, and mostly trained in UNIX. IMO, Registry entries are harder to browse than a single text file, and more prone to getting corrupted (if only becuase so many other programs edit it). All these problems can be addressed, of course, but it becomes a question of risk/cost versus benefit. The only benefit I can see is that we'd be more "Windows-y". The costs include responding to bug reports with things like "Are you running Windows? What are your Registry settings? See the Windows FAQ for instructions on how to look at and modify your Registry settings". If all platforms have the same config files in pretty much the same place, it's one less thing that could go wrong, one less question to ask, and one less variant for the regression testing scripts to address. 2) Stealth. Freenet is more likely than the average program to be run "underground", in the sense that the user may want to leave few clues that the program has been installed, be able to uninstall it in a big fat hurry, and be able to verify in a simple way that the uninstall was complete. Putting everything related to Freenet in one big honkin' directory will be helpful in that circumstance. --Will (monotonically repeating that he does not speak for his employers) willdye at willdye.com _______________________________________________ Freenet-dev mailing list Freenet-dev at lists.sourceforge.net http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/freenet-dev
