For linux version:Option to choose where userdata is located

[Hex]

1. The ubuntu/lunux version of the game should ask you where userdata should go/where it already is upon installation.

2. One should be able to select a new location for userdata at will, and have wesnoth remember that new location.
If this could cause userdata to be transfered and deleted from the old location that would be even better, but that is just a nice bonus.

Since saves and such can be shared by both linux and windows versions of wesnoth, being able to choose a completely different partition then the game in linux, for userdata, that is identical in both windows and linux wesnoth, and be able to easily choose such a location and have wesnoth remember it without needing to run any command every time, would allow one to pick up games and such easily, no matter which OS they are using, and allow a dual booter such as myself, to treat both sides a little bit more like one.

Another benefit of being able to choose a different spot then default is to be able to continue with old userdata with a new wesnoth update if that update does not invalidate

There is a command that causes userdata to go to a different location, (wesnoth --config-dir path/your/in/path/to/userdatadir/)but it is not remembered by wesnoth and has to be repeated each time you load wesnoth. Yes you can set up scripts or redirecting shortcuts so you personally don't have to open a terminal and input a command every time, but this is not a very user friendly approach.

[Anonymissimus]

CABD. Start wesnoth from console with --config-dir /path/to/userdatadir/.
This works for me actually, I'm using the same wesnoth source tree on Linux as on win, so it's not only the userdata which is identical, but also all mainline wml and lua.

[Hex]

That does not work for me, if you checked out the link at the top of my post you would find a thread where I am seeking help with exactly that issue.

Anyway, even if I did get it to work, that shouldn't be necessary in the first place. Nor should the files be invisible etc. I stick by my suggestions.

P.S. What is CABD short for?/Mean?

[Dixie]

OT: CABD

[Captain_Wrathbow]

Can Already Be Done. That is, there's no need to make this a feature, because there's already a way of doing it.
See Wesnoth Acronyms wiki page.

EDIT: Drat, ninja'd by Dixie.

[Hex]

It can be done?
You can choose where your user data goes when you install wesnoth? No you can not.
Can you tell wesnoth you want the user data to go to X location and have it remember? No you can not.
Does wesnoth choose somewhere in home as a default location for userdata? No it does not.
Does wesnoth put userdata as "unhidden"? No it does not.
So, none of my suggestions are currently in the linux version of the game. /The CABD is a lie. (so is the cake)

It didn't stop wesnoth team from implementing new graphics for units, just because the old units had graphics. And some primitive work around command (that doesn't even work for me) that may partially compensate for these lack of features, similarly should not be used as a excuse not to implement these features that will improve the simplicity and ease of using this game under linux.

And would it really take mad programing to change the default userdata location and make it and its files unhidden in the next update? I think not.

And I would remind you guys that, that command does not work anyway, at least not for me, and there isn't anything special about my ubuntu. If it works for you, then help me get it to work to in the other thread, but again, its immaterial to this suggestion thread, its still a crude, inconvenient method, and somewhat complex to make less inconvenient since you got to mess with scripts or something (plus I don't know how it works exactly, so it might even only partially address even some of these issues) When its easy to imagine a much more refined, simpler to use, and convenient, system in place.

I have seen the option to choose save locations and the location of the game itself implemented in many a windows game, surely linux is not so much more complicated that you can't implement something similar for userdata, especially since there are other linux programs that give you data save location options etc.

[Pentarctagon]

And would it really take mad programing to change the default userdata location and make it and its files unhidden in the next update? I think not.

If you know it won't take a lot of work, then I'm sure you would be willing to make the patch yourself? And assuming you can't, have you filed a feature request here?

[Hex]

Feature request, isn't that what this forum is for?

[Max]

1. The linux version of the game should ask you where userdata should go/where it already is upon installation

no, it shouldn't. it should default to the location that is given by standards and best practice guidelines for the particular os.

2. One should be able to select a new location for userdata at will, and have wesnoth remember that new location.

don't you see why this isn't going to work? how would wesnoth know were the userdata is located if it's not in the default location or it's given that information right at startup - using --config-dir?

3. The default location of userdata should me somewhere in /home or ~.

it is. just try it, change your home directory and see for yourself what's happening...

so you're looking for a way to share your save games between windows and linux. a more reasonable feature request would be to ask for a way to change just the save game folder, which can't be done right now. e.g. some might not want to share the preferences.

you could get this done by changing the saves folder to a directory link on linux (pointing to the saves folder of your windows partition)

btw: i really don't like your attitude - you might want to read this on how to approach a community like this one:
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

[Hex]

it should default to the location that is given by standards and best practice guidelines for the particular os.

If you are claiming there is a advantage to putting userdata in one location verses another, tell us what that advantage is and back it up with some evidence, otherwise this is meaningless. AFAIK one location for userdata is just as good as another for the purpose of the games general operation.(which explains why they feel free to keep moving that location around) But for practical purposes, current default location is not the best location for this OS for the reasons I explained.

how would wesnoth know were the userdata is located

Same way any program knows where to look for something, it records the location and looks to the file it recorded said location to.

3. The default location of userdata should me somewhere in /home or ~.

so you're looking for a way to share your save games between windows and linux. a more reasonable feature request would be to ask for a way to change just the save game folder, which can't be done right now. e.g. some might not want to share the preferences.

This shows a ignorance of how linux/ubuntu works. Windows can not really go into /home easily without screwing up linux. I explain the purpose of it going to /home earlier and its not sharing between OS.

As far as saves verses other things, there would be lots of things I would want to share between the two, like eras, settings and so on. Likewise there are lots of things I would not want to have to redo if updating ubuntu.

P.S. You may judge my attitude badly, but going by your link, there is nothing wrong with it, perhaps it is your judgment that is off. Perhaps you should not be so quick to judge me at all.

[Max]

This shows a ignorance of how linux/ubuntu works.

and that from someone who screwed up by using a simple command line switch - are you serious?

so tell us - what exact location did wesnoth choose for your userdata?

[Hex]

Max, please keep this to the subject, do you have any important details to contribute in regards to the suggestions in this thread? One might think you were trying to cause a conflict between us, please mellow out. I mean I hear alot from you that suggests I should never have posted this suggestion in the first place, but nothing that actually gives reason not to adopt these suggestions. If these suggestions were adopted, how would any of them negatively effect you in the slightest?

BTW for clarification here, are you saying that windows can write to ubuntu's /home, despite /home only working under EXT# and windows not even able to read EXT# without the help of special programs? (and even then I guess it is mostly limited to reading)

[pauxlo]

The default directory is a user-specific directory inside the home directory - ~/.wesnoth1.8 for 1.8, ~/.local/share/wesnoth/ for 1.9. (The ~/.local directory is a general convention to put application configuration data on several Linux desktop systems, to avoid cluttering the home directory with too many subdirectories.)

Assuming we want a user-specific "user data" directory, putting it into the home directory is the best bet for a default (as there are no other user-specific directories at all).

If you were to configure your user-data directory, where should this configuration be stored? If it would be stored in the program directory, it would not be configurable (as the program directory should be read-only, other than for updates of the program). Thus we would need either some global configuration like /etc/wesnoth (but then it would likely not be user-specific), or some other user-specific configuration file, simply to point to the configuration directory.

It shows that the last variant is already doable (or should be), without Wesnoth doing anything for it: move your .wesnoth1.8 directory to your shared windows-linux partition, and create a symbolic link to there from .wesnoth1.8. Then start Wesnoth again.

Other than that, the --config-dir command line switch should work (I didn't try, as I have no Wesnoth installed here) - but maybe there is some bug there. Try to file a bug report, describing the problem.

[Crendgrim]

1. The linux version of the game should ask you where userdata should go/where it already is upon installation.

How is that supposed to work?
Seriously, each big distribution has its own installation way — let it be .rpm packages, .deb packages or whatever. The static linux binaries don't even have an installation. And finally, the "real" installation (meaning: compiling from source) does support this as described in your other thread.
So, this really CABD.

2. One should be able to select a new location for userdata at will, and have wesnoth remember that new location.

See 1. Apart from that, if you want to include it in the options, refer to the posts above.

3. The default location of userdata should me somewhere in /home or ~.

No. Definitely no. The freedesktop.org specifications say exactly where it has to be: In $HOME/.local/share/<appname> (and so does Wesnoth 1.9 handle it).
Putting the files to /home is seriously wrong, because you are not expected to have the rights to write there as a normal user. Putting them into your $HOME directory just clutter it up.

4. The userdata folder and files within, should not me hidden. Those are not a crucial systems files and is the type of file that most calls for editing.

What? They aren't hidden. Also, not only system files are hidden under Linux — that's only in those new OSes.

The reason /home is a good location to default put userdata too is because ever so often you want to update ubuntu to a completely new version, which I am told by some calls for a fresh install, this way your data is preserved on that case. Also if you screw up your linux, having your userdata in /home protects it from that. People usually put /home on a completely different partition to preserve data in such circumstances, but having it buried and hidden within the main linux file directories and outside of /home defeats all of that.

No. See above.

But since saves and such can be shared by both linux and windows versions of wesnoth, being able to choose a completely different partition then the game in linux, for userdata, that is identical in both windows and linux wesnoth, and be able to easily choose such a location and have wesnoth remember it without needing to run any command every time, would not only preserve the data in case of OS failure, but allow one to pick up games and such easily, no matter which OS they are using, and allow a dual booter such as myself, to treat both sides a little bit more like one.

Another possibility would be to create a link to the dir you want to save your user data in.

If you were to configure your user-data directory, where should this configuration be stored? If it would be stored in the program directory, it would not be configurable (as the program directory should be read-only, other than for updates of the program). Thus we would need either some global configuration like /etc/wesnoth (but then it would likely not be user-specific), or some other user-specific configuration file, simply to point to the configuration directory.

For this, there is the directory $HOME/.config/wesnoth.


Crend

EDIT:
Okay, pauxlo (see below) is right regarding the hidden files; the folder itself is hidden, but the files within aren't.

[pauxlo]

4. The userdata folder and files within, should not me hidden. Those are not a crucial systems files and is the type of file that most calls for editing.

What? They aren't hidden. Also, not only system files are hidden under Linux — that's only in those new OSes.

To be fair, all files/directories whose names start with . (like .wesnoth1.8 or .local) are hidden files in Linux - by default, they show up neither in the file managers nor in th ls output.