Date: Thu, 13 Mar 1997 16:35:43 -0800 (PST)
From: Evan Dickinson <evand AT wsunix DOT wsu DOT edu>
Reply-To: evand AT scn DOT org
To: OpenDOS Mailing List <opendos AT mail DOT tacoma DOT net>
Subject: Re: [opendos] FSSTND 
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On Thu, 13 Mar 1997 dg AT dcs DOT st-and DOT ac DOT uk wrote:

> [...]
> >While I agree with the idea of a standard, I abhor hardcoded directory
> >names.  I've already got my own directory structure and I hate programs
> >that won't respect that.  
> >
> >In lieu of hardcoded directories, I'd suggest a file whose contents look
> >something like this: 
> >
> >utility=c:\util
> >app=c:\dosapps;d:\dosapps
> >game=c:\games
> >library=d:\opendos\lib
> >temp=c:\temp
> >etc...
> [...]
> 
> Interestingly enough, GEOS (a really nifty preemptive GUI that will run 
on *anything* with at least 640kB of RAM that I urge you all to try) does 
just this. What's more, you can specify *multiple* paths for every virtual 
path. So I can specify SP_FONT_PATH to be in:
> 
> 	C:\GEOS\USERDATA\FONT
> 	N:\EXPORTED\GEOS\FONTS
> 	D:\FONTS\BODY
> 	D:\FONTS\DISPLAY
> 
> ...where C is my local drive, N a network drive, and D a CD. If it doesn't 
> find a particular font on C, it looks on N, and then on the two D
> directories. 
> Of course, writes all go to C.

I think multiple paths are a really good idea (notice the two app paths in
my example).  I don't really like the idea of defaulting all the writes to
one drive.  On my old computer I had a near-full C and a larger D.  There
were too many apps that were a pain to install because they *had* to write
to C (where my Windows\System) directory was.