[GRASSLIST:6168] Re: data directory manipulation?

[Glynn Clements]

Greg Sepesi wrote:

> The spearfish sample data includes raw map data subdirectories ('dlg'
> for USGS data, and 'TIGER' for census data) within the PERMANENT mapset,
> which seems like a good place to store raw map data.

It isn't. The dlg directory is there because that's where v.in.dlg and
v.out.dlg expect the DLG files to live. That was a mistake on the part
of whoever wrote those programs.

> I'd like to setup
> a location directory to do the same thing.  However it doesn't appear
> that any of the g.* commands can make a directory, and the GRASS
> documentation warns against manually manipulating the data directory.  
> 
> I'm hoping someone will direct me to a reference (or a source code file)
> that describes what manual directory manipulation is allowed and what
> isn't ... I suppose the reason for disallowance would be nice to know
> also.

Creating additional[1] directories within the mapset directory should
be harmless, but isn't recommended. The main thing to avoid doing is
modifying or deleting any file or directory which is "known" to GRASS.

[1] I.e. directories which don't have any significance to GRASS.

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn.clements at virgin.net>