Re: RFC: Common desktop-wide paths

[Tristan Buckmaster <tristan buckmaster gmail com>]

The cool thing about this solution is you can have your directory
structure however you like.  Alot of the solutions being presented
have alot of restrictions to your directory stucture, like not being
able to store your documents on another machine or discribing what
directories you MUST have.

Another good thing about this solution, is that it would be forward
compatible to when we want to organise our files using meta data.  You
could attach meta labels to a meta data filter instead of just a
directory.

On Mon, 4 Oct 2004 19:48:57 +1000, Tristan Buckmaster
<tristan buckmaster gmail com> wrote:
> Ok it seems that there are alot of people for having default
> directories, but everyone has their own take on how they should be
> implemented.  It is obvious that as it is such a dividing issue, that
> if it is to be implemented it should be highly configurable, but still
> easy to use and maintain.
> 
> One very contentious issue is what the default directories should be.
> I believe instead of thinking of it as directories we should think of
> it as meta labels (made that name up, it's probably a stupid name for
> them...) that map to directories.  For example you could have the
> following labels:
> 
> Default
> Office Documents
> Music
> Downloads
> Photos
> Development
> ........
> .......
> blah
> 
> These meta labels can be attached to certain directories or not mapped
> at all.  One directory may have several meta labels attached to it.
> The default meta label points to the directory seen as the root of all
> the users documents (for example ~/Desktop or ~/Documents).
> 
> When a program like Rhythmbox opens that requires a directory to find
> it's music, it will do the following things:
> 
> * Check if there is a directory that is attached to Music
> * If there is not a directory attached to Music or the directory that
> was attached to Music has since been renamed, moved or deleted, it
> will open up a dialog box to select a directory for the Music meta
> label.
> 
> You may also wish programs to have an advanced option to select a
> custom directory not connected with a meta label.  Programs that do
> not require a default directory, may use the appropriate meta label as
> a guideline of where to first look for a document (in an open/save
> dialog), if the label doesn't exist then it will use the default label
> as it's guideline.
> 
> An important  implementation issue is how the user manages these meta
> labels.  I suggest there first be a configurable wizard that appears
> when you first open gnome.  It will first allow you to select the
> directory the default meta label should attach itself to.  You can
> then select which meta labels you would like to use (You may wish to
> use no meta labels at all).  The default will be to create a directory
> (in the appropriate language) for each meta label with the same
> directory name as the label inside the default directory, but if the
> user wishes he can use a different directory or use a directory one of
> the other meta labels is using.  Now as I said this should be
> configurable.  There should be the option to use a configuration file
> so distributions can automatically create directories and meta labels
> and not have the wizard run.  A distribution may think it's best to
> let the directories and labels be created when the user first runs
> programs that require default directories.
> 
> The user should also be able to edit the meta labels through a system
> tool program (you probably want the wizard and system tool program to
> be the same program).  The user could rename a default directory,
> point a meta label to a different directory or detach meta labels all
> together.  If the user points a meta label to a different directory
> you may wish to ask the user if he wants the files in the old
> directory moved to the new one and then the old directory deleted.
> 
> Anywayz thats my idea...
> 
> It would allow people to have whatever default directories they want
> and wherever they want or have none at all.  It would allow
> distributions to configure default directories however they like.
> 
> Tristan
>