[XeTeX] doc/samples available via i-Installer

Jonathan Kew jonathan_kew at sil.org
Wed Mar 9 21:00:46 CET 2005


On 9 Mar 2005, at 6:00 pm, Bruno Voisin wrote:

> Le 9 mars 05, à 18:16, Jonathan Kew a écrit :
>
>> FYI, the XeTeX documentation (such as it is) and sample files can now  
>> be obtained via i-Installer; there's a new package in the i-Directory  
>> that will install them. (By default, they'll be put in the /Documents  
>> folder, but you can change that destination in i-Installer.)
>
> I'm not willing to reproduce here the discussion that took place on  
> the OS TeX list regarding the preferred location for storage of  
> i-Packages. That said...
>
> I think the /Documents directory is supposed to be reserved for  
> Classic applications. From  
> <http://developer.apple.com/documentation/MacOSX/Conceptual/ 
> BPFileSystem/Concepts/ClassicDirectories.html>:
>
> "Documents: Contains application-specific information. This directory  
> should be used only by Classic applications. Mac OS X applications  
> should store preferences and other application files in the  
> appropriate /Library directory. Users should store their documents in  
> their home directory."

Yikes.....looks like I stumbled into a mess here! And I hadn't read  
that statement about /Documents being for Classic apps only.

I confess that I didn't follow the i-Packages discussion; I guess I  
should have, although this is a somewhat different case than installer  
packages. These things seem to me to be "documents" in a more typical  
sense than i-Packages, rather than a "resource" of a different kind.

> Personnally I tend to put all ReadMe files and documentation for OS X  
> applications inside /Library/Documentation, namely, for XeTeX, inside  
> /Library/Documentation/XeTeX. From  
> <http://developer.apple.com/documentation/MacOSX/Conceptual/ 
> BPFileSystem/Concepts/LibraryDirectory.html>:
>
> "Documentation: Contains documentation files and Apple Help packages  
> intended for the users and administrators of the computer. (Apple Help  
> packages are located in the Help subdirectory.) In the local domain,  
> this directory contains the help packages shipped by Apple (excluding  
> developer documentation)."

I don't see many applications placing documentation here, and as a user  
I don't think to look there. iMovie does have a collection of PDFs  
there, I see, but they're accessible via its Help menu, so the user  
isn't expected to go finding them by hand.

If there were a front-end through which users typically locate all this  
stuff, /Library/Documentation would be an appropriate place to store  
it. But I'm less sure it's right when we're talking about files that  
users are expected to find, read, and play with themselves.

> Another possibility is also, of course, /Library/Application  
> Support/XeTeX. Again from  
> <http://developer.apple.com/documentation/MacOSX/Conceptual/ 
> BPFileSystem/Concepts/LibraryDirectory.html>:
>
> "Application Support: Contains application-specific data and support  
> files such as third-party plug-ins, helper applications, templates,  
> and extra resources that are used by the application but not required  
> for it to operate. By convention, all of these items should be put in  
> a subdirectory named after the application. For example, third-party  
> resources for the application MyApp would go in Application  
> Support/MyApp/. Note that required resources should go inside the  
> application bundle itself."

Also doesn't feel right to me; these aren't "support files" for an  
application. That would be things like spell-checking dictionaries,  
clip art libraries, document templates, etc.

> See also  
> <http://developer.apple.com/documentation/MacOSX/Conceptual/ 
> BPFileSystem/Concepts/WhereToPutFiles.html>, for the definition and  
> concepts behind Support Files, and how subdirectories of  
> /Library/Application Support should be named.
>
> For example, Apple's iWork stores additional samples, themes and image  
> libraries inside /Library/Application Support/iWork, and documentation  
> (actually the PDF files for the user manuals) inside  
> /Library/Documentation/Applications/iWork.
>
> But then, of course, all these rules are primarily for GUI  
> applications, such that the application includes an interface for  
> opening these files without the user having to know where they  
> actually reside. Which makes the rules a bit awkward for XeTeX. Which  
> user will think about looking inside /Library, without being taught  
> first to do so?

Right. Apple even says (in the WhereToPutFiles document):

> Even if your application provides clip art or sample files that the  
> user would normally manipulate, you should place those files in either  
> the local or user’s Library/Application Support directory by default.  
> The user can move or copy files from this directory as desired.

....which seems to make it clear that XeTeX Samples should go into  
Library/Application Support; but then....

>  If you are concerned about the user finding these files, you should  
> include a way for the user to browse or access them directly from your  
> application’s user interface.

....which isn't easy to do in this instance.

I suppose, on thinking about it, I'd suggest that I change the default  
location to ~/Documents. I know Apple says that developers shouldn't  
install things there, it's for users to control. But in this case, it's  
not an application installer that is dumping stuff there (without the  
user's knowledge or control); rather, it's a separate package that  
specifically provides some *Documents*, and this seems a logical  
default place to offer to put them. The fact that this package of  
documents is delivered via an "installer" technology is secondary to  
the fact that it's a bunch of documents.

As always, thanks for the helpful comments. Would ~/Documents be a  
better default, you think? (The knowledgeable user who likes to keep  
things in /Library/Documentation or Application Support or whatever can  
still specify this during installation, of course.)

JK



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