On 07 Aug 2011, at 04:49, Geordie McBain wrote: > 2011/8/6 Christophe Geuzaine <[email protected]>: >> >> Hi guys, >> >> We should indeed clarify/enhance the "save options" behavior. At the moment >> we can choose between three "levels" when saving options: >> >> - "session" (gets saved by default in .gmshrc on exit) >> - "option" (can get saved in .gmsh-options on exit, or is saved there >> manually when choosing "Save Options->As default") >> - "full" (used when explicitly saving the options) >> >> Maybe we could provide a way to save the options for the current file each >> time we exit? This could make Gmsh be completely "persistent" per model. Or >> do you have other suggestions? >> >> Let me know what you think. > > Personally I'm quite happy with the current behaviour. The new > suggested option sounds O.K. too, though I can't imagine using it > myself, and can see it being annoying if ever activated accidentally. > > I think it might be a good idea to keep the standard default option > settings as the default behaviour, because when newcomers are learning > a program they can sometimes get themselves and the state of the > program into a tangle from which the best step is to quit and restart. > There is the "Restore default options" recourse , but a beginner > mighn't not find that without help, as happened the other day > <http://www.geuz.org/pipermail/gmsh/2011/006588.html>. > > I guess considering the worst possibility in each case: > > 1. If persistence is the default, a clumsy user can get the state in a mess. > > 2. If tabula rasa is the default, a clumsy user might spend hours > settting all their favourite options and then lose them. > > I'm not sure, but I think the second user would be more likely to > recover and find the remedy, since if they've already found how to set > options, they've had a good chance of finding the option which > controls the saving of state. > > But Gmsh is already cleverer than this simple dichotomy and realizes > that different answers to it are appropriate to different variables, > and even has three answers rather than two. This is good. > > Anyway (sorry, I know this is already too long), the only concrete > suggestions I'd make are: > > * Expand the little paragraph beginning "Appendix B Options" > <http://geuz.org/gmsh/doc/texinfo/gmsh.html#Options>, as currently it > only refers to two possibilities rather than three, e.g. by cutting > and pasting from your e-mail. >
Excellent idea: done. > * Mention in "3 Running Gmsh on Your System" > <http://geuz.org/gmsh/doc/texinfo/gmsh.html#Running-Gmsh-on-your-system> > that the state is affected by saved options, refer to Appendix B, and > succinctly tell how to get the system back to the pristine state. > Also done. Thanks for the feedback, Christophe > Geordie McBain -- Prof. Christophe Geuzaine University of Liege, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science http://www.montefiore.ulg.ac.be/~geuzaine _______________________________________________ gmsh mailing list [email protected] http://www.geuz.org/mailman/listinfo/gmsh
