[GRASS-dev] where to store GRASS settings: GISRC and wx settings

[Hamish]

Hamish:
> >> re. ~/.grassrc6, do not mess with the location of
> >> longstanding support files. 6.x is the **stable** branch
> >> which should have its core firmly in bug-fix-only mode.

[I'm just talking about the ~/.grassrc6 gisenv file on unix here]

Martin:
> > 6.4 is stable branch, not 6.5.

I completely and utterly disagree with that idea. 6.5 is where
we safely test things before backporting to stable 6.4.
Design changes will not go into 6.4 so do not belong in 6.5.

> > Anyway it will not brake anything,

History shows that messing with long-held assumptions will
always have unthought-of consequences. You can't assume that
others are not relying on that file for something, and that we
have thought of everything. But you can rely on the opposite
being true in both cases.

> > old location of rc/wx file is read, GRASS just stores new
> > files on other position. Nothing is going to broken.

multiple files scattered in the file system both doing the same
thing under different contexts and only active if other files
exist or not.  what a mess!

> > It's better to make current mess smaller then to leave as
> > it is.

This is creating a new mess.

Markus M:
> I have applied the suggested changes to 7 and 6.5.

please revert unix ~/.grassrc6 bits of r47956 for 6.5 immediately.

> i.e. leaving GISRC where it is for 6.4 and using 6.5 as
> testing ground.

testing ground for what? a change which will never be backported
into 6.4? I said about a year ago after we released 6.4.0 and
the flood of backports went into 6.4svn that I was going to get
increasingly cranky about >6.4.1 being for bug fixes only, and
I did mean it. Sure if there's a new flag or something which
helps make things nicer without affecting anything else we
should consider it, but changes to the core file structure for
aesthetic reasons only? No friggin way.


more than anything, my main complaint is if it ain't broke,
don't fix it:

** PUT NEW DEVELOPMENT IN TRUNK AND LEAVE 6.x WELL ENOUGH ALONE


thanks,
Hamish