Re: [PATCH] Do not select symlinked dirs as files

[Pavel Roskin <proski gnu org>]

Hello, David!

Sorry I couldn't participate in the discussion earlier.

> so, now it is possible to choose in 'Configuration' menu whether to select
> symlinked dir as file or directory.

I think it's a wrong place.  Whether you want to select symlinks to
directories depends on the data you are working with, not on what kind
of user you are.  This should be in the select dialog.

I'm not saying that there should be no preference to keep the default, but
it shouldn't be the only place to chose the behavior.

Let's take an easier example.  The option for case sensitive search is in
the "Find File", not in preferences.  Some users mostly use with texts in
natural languages and use primarily case insensitive search.  Other work
mostly with programs and use case sensitive search.

This doesn't mean that a programmer doesn't need case insensitive search.
But he can change the setting right in the dialog rather than in the
global preferences.  If it was only in preferences and not in the dialog,
he would forget what he set there last time.  And it would take more
keystrokes to do a simple task.

What we don't have unfortunately is saving of the settings made in the
dialogs.  If I used case insensitive search last time, the search should
default to case insensitive after I restart mc.

I believe we need a more fine-grained mechanism to control which settings
are saved.  "Auto save setup" in the configuration in just inadequate.
But as the first step, settings made in dialogs should be saved if and
only if "Auto save setup" is on.

Once that is done, we can add more and more settings that appear only in
the applicable dialogs and don't clutter the configuration dialog.

Sorry, writing user-friendly programs is not easy.

-- 
Regards,
Pavel Roskin