On Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 01:51:22PM +0100, Hern??n Morales Durand wrote:
Let's say you want to resolve paths in a cross platform way
Binaries @ 'MyExec' Libraries @ 'MyLib' SystemLibraries @ 'SystemLib' etc.
then Binaries is
In Windows: #( 'C:\Program Files' 'C:\Archivos de Programa' ...) " and all standard locations including translations " In UNIX: #('/usr/bin/' '/usr/local/bin' ....) " and all standard locations " etc
Now you may say it is necessary to scan all directories to find MyExec, yes but you may then save that location
myBinaryLocation := Binaries @ 'MyExec'.
so you scan for it just once.
What do you think? it is already implemented anywhere? If not what package do you think is more suitable or prepared for implementing it?
Hern??n,
This is of course very platform dependent, and it is more complex than you might expect due to differences in file systems, operating systems, volume names (windows), environment variables and search path conventions.
Both Windows and Unix use various seach paths accessible through environment variables, and the conventions for this tend to change over time with different OS versions. So it would probably be best to rely directly on those environment variables for identifying search paths.
Aside from the conventions for default locations and search paths, some of what you are looking for may also be implemented for Windows and Unix in SqS/CommandShell in class ShellSyntax:
My instances implement parsing of strings in a manner similar to a simple Unix command shell. I provide path name expansion in the context of an external file system, and support the syntax required for IO redirection. All file name globbing and PATH searching are implemented in Smalltalk rather than in C library functions or an external command shell.
Most of my syntax is applicable for any operating system. Where needed, platform specific methods are in my "platform dependent" category. Currently, Unix and Windows are supported, and other platforms have not been tested. The primary difference between Unix and Windows support is that device names (such as 'C:') are used in Windows path strings. Separate current working directory strings are maintained for all Windows device names. For Unix, a single current working directory path is used. On Windows, this permits the CommandShell 'cd' command to support changing directories to another device without losing track of the current working directory for the previous device.
Command pipeline syntax is not supported here. See CommandShell for the implementation of command pipelines.
Dave