Re: edit.m: patches to restore and fix old behavior for new files

[Ben Abbott]

On Apr 18, 2012, at 9:33 PM, Mike Miller wrote:

> On Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 08:27:43PM -0400, Ben Abbott wrote:
>> On Apr 18, 2012, at 4:55 PM, Mike Miller wrote:
>> 
>>> Could be, I believe this is the change that stopped creating new files
>>> in HOME and just edits them in pwd:
>>> 
>>> http://hg.savannah.gnu.org/hgweb/octave/rev/2ce6b4258e96#l2.155
>>> 
>>> Ben, was this intentional?
>> 
>> Yes, it is intended that the default working directory be pwd ().
> 
> Ok, I can live with that.
> 
>>> If so, why was that changed but still copy existing function files
>>> into HOME (line 184, same changeset)?
>> 
>> hmmm ... do you have write privilege to the m-file you tried to edit ?
>> 
>> If the file is modifiable in place then it will opened in its original
>> location. If you do not have write privilege, then a copy is opened in
>> HOME.
> 
> I got that, I just wonder why new files are put in pwd() now while a
> copy of an existing m-file is opened in HOME.  Is that not more
> confusing to a new user?  It certainly confused me :)
> 
> If we're saying the default working directory is pwd(), then shouldn't
> it be the same for these copies of system functions too?  Just get rid
> of HOME and replace it with pwd()?  I liked the HOME setup, but I like
> consistency more.
> 
> -- 
> mike

I thought I recalled that some of the developers had expressed a preference for 
HOME. However, I can't find anything in my old emails (which go back to May 
2007).

Would you like to prepare another patch and propose it to the list ?

Ben