Re: $HOME default on w32

[Stefan Monnier]

>> So what the difference between the two (conceptually) ?
>> Which one should we use ?
>> What does it mean if $USERPROFILE points to C:/foo/bar and CSIDL_PERSONAL
>> points to U:/toto/titi ?  What kind of file should go where ?

> As far as i understand it $USERPROFILE points to the place where the
> system puts the user files.. (directories like "Cookies",
> "Favorites", "Start Menu").
> While "My Documents" holds the users own files.

> FWIW i use "My Documents" as $HOME because it is the most accessible
> place when working with windowze.  Every filedialog has an item "My
> Documents", the second folder in the windowze file explorer is "My
> Documents".

So there are two issues w.r.t $HOME:
1 - $HOME is used for convenience so the user can access his files with the
    ~ shorthand.
2 - $HOME is used to find user-specific (as opposed to global) settings in
    files such as ~/.emacs.

Number 2 tells us $HOME should be set to $USERPROFILE whereas number 1 would
tend to prefer CSIDL_PERSONAL.

I find number 2 much more important, so I stick to my original idea.


        Stefan