User directories integration - request for help

[Baris Cicek]

On Mon, 2007-03-19 at 10:42 +0100, Alexander Larsson wrote:
> On Sat, 2007-03-17 at 22:03 +0200, Baris Cicek wrote:
> > I could not find where to post this, so sending over here. 
> > 
> > I changed Alex's xdg-user-dirs application to make it using symlinks
> > instead of actual directories. Maybe it's something in vain but just
> > wanted to put my solution into a prototype so as to be tested. (Maybe
> > someone like it). 
> > 
> > Actually using symlinks give better handling of localization than using
> > --force. It does not touch directories, so can be considered
> > theoretically more secure. 
> 
> Each application will have to use readlink() to find the actual
> directory to use. For sure you don't want have a filename like
> ~/.desktop/file.txt to ever be seen by the user, so you must always
> store the expanded form. Plus, you need to fallback on a file if
> symlinks are not supported.
Applications should look at "user-dirs.dirs", which points to symlink.
If they won't, they were making big mistake at all, losing necessity of
"user-dirs.dirs". Using static non-visible-english-on-disk would make
life of packagers easy if dotted directories are standardized. Think
about a tarball, created with full of pictures. Packager can use
directories relative to ".pictures", and user can see it in his/her
"~/Pictures" symlink. How could that possible with translated
directories? 

Fallback is possible and can be implemented. However limiting people
using native Linux technologies for those using (no offense) ad-hoc
solutions like samba is not a way to go. People share their directories
as well, so should we encourage not using symlinks anywhere? 

I know that's not what you mean. But if someone using Windows servers
and using shares with samba, then s/he should bare it's constrains.
Using samba as a domain server and file server won't have this problem
of not supporting symlinks (samba shares support symlinks). 
> 
> So, I don't think this is a better solution. (As I didn't when it was
> proposed in the discussions leading to the design of xdg-user-dirs.)
I believe that strength of Linux is coming from it's ability to address
needs/requests of most possible user base. That's why I wanted to put
symlink approach into implementation as well. 

If we won't use coolness of symlinks for that, where should we use it?
(only for library naming conventions?)

> 
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>  Alexander Larsson                                            Red Hat,
> Inc 
>                    alexl at redhat.com    alla at lysator.liu.se 
> He's an underprivileged flyboy gentleman spy living undercover at Ringling 
> Bros. Circus. She's a foxy cigar-chomping hooker on her way to prison for a 
> murder she didn't commit. They fight crime! 
>