File Location Standardization


Joined
Aug 20, 2010
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So, if Hakmanplayer's reaction/departure and the hubub about the repositories are any indication, folks want the Pandora to be easier to configure.


We already have standard app locations, so why not standardize their config files? The way I see it, there're a few types of files that could be standardized:

  • BIOS files (for emulators).
  • ROMs (for emulators).
  • Config files.


Of course, this goes against the de-facto standard in our current PND setup (but that's partly because we don't have much of a standard - every app just dumps its files into its own config directory).


So, we could make it a lot simpler if we standardized things, at least for the emulators:

  • BIOS files go in /pandora/bios
  • ROMs go in /pandora/roms


Then it becomes the emulator's job to determine which ROMs in the rom directory should be presented to the user.


This allows the user to simply dump ROM files in /pandora/roms and be done with it, no confusing configuration. We're changing who is responsible for the underlying complexity: moving the complex configuration from the end users to the developers, where it's better suited. Of course, many emulators already support this by: (1) remembering the ROM directory between launches, and (2) filtering out useless directory files from the ROM list. In those cases, we'd just need to make the directories above the default.


What other types of files could be standardized?


Let the flames begin :)
 
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We could simply follow the existing XDG config standard. ~/.config/appname/foobar.conf would be an example of this.


As for BIOSes and ROMs, what's wrong with using the app's directory? e.g. /pandora/zsnes/{roms,saves} I think there's a bit of a problem with people expecting every emulator and piece of software to look and behave the same. That's an unreasonable request and it's only possible if the same person or group created each and every front-end. Most GNU/Linux software only needs to be configured once, and everything's good. Things aren't uniform even on Windows emulators, so why expect it on the Pandora?
 
This is only going to work if the person porting the emulator is interested in actually modifying it to work with Pandora-specific controls and suchlike. The vast majority of porters think that all that's needed is a simple re-build using an ARM cross-compiler and they're done, so it's unlikely that anyone will adhere to these proposed standards.


They are a good idea, but there's not really anyone who'll consider implementing them :(


D.
 
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