[sword-devel] New website - installation instructions

[Peter von Kaehne]

This discussion has gone a bit beyond to where I expected it to go.

Couple of things:

1) I asserted that the Windows selfextracting Zips are broken. Having
listened to Troy's explanation and checked again + thought matters
through, I would like to withdraw that assertion.

The current self extracting zips are not broken, but they are
under-utilisied. It appears that they work hand in hand with a feature
of the install manager - to find new modules and install them properly,
but no front end apart from BibleCS seems to use them.

I can not tell what it would take to make them useful to other
frontends, nor am I able to say whether this would in the current format
be a useful thing, but broken they are not.

But as it stands, with more and more credible windows frontends
available it should probably get resolved in some form. At the very
least I would need to assert on the download page that these modules are
not supported by anyone else but BibleCS.

I do very much think that self extracting modules of some sort have a
market. I personally wnat them for a variety of reasons, mostly to do
with ease of use and distribution difficulties.

---------------------------------

2) The debate about correct installation place has become a lot more
acrimonous than it needed (not all on-list).

My personal view as a occasional windows user is that

I do not like programmes which mess to much with the entrails of Windows
as none clean up behind them reliably. Using registry cleaners is always
a scary undertaking.

So a programme which does not set registry, puts things mostly into one
clearly defined directory and does not litter the place is A Good Thing
(TM).

The current arrangement with C:/Program Files/CrossWire/bla/ba
does this. Whether it is sufficient and will work on all installations
where people likely want to install a programme of us - I can not tell.
If not, it should probably change, but if it is working reliably, then
there is no reason to change it. Microsoft's assertions are not a
reason. Changes which make the modules there inaccessible to install and
delete would be a reason.

I have installed dozens of Windows freeware Bible software (much is
there, little is actual FL/OSS) and all seem to keep the Bible texts etc
close to their chest. Most seem to install them either in
C:\[ProgramName] or C:\Program Files\[Program Name]

A real reason not to go into C:Program Files would be for me a tightly
filled C:Drive, but Troy gives a sensible answer there in terms of
movability of the whole folder without loss of function.

Personal modules - I do see the value in that, very much. I am not keen
to have my personal mullings spread across a multi-user environment.

Where should they go?

APPDATA seems as good a place as the root of my user directory, though
looking at both on my XP VM - most applications store their stuff in
APPDATA. So APPDATA is probably cleaner. If . files are not hideable
then this would annoy me. And then Sword would be preferable. Probably
not as much as to make me move application to something different though.

My 2p.

Peter