[Pkg-lyx-devel] Seaching for elyxer.py and elyxer in configure.py?

[Alex Fernandez]

Hi,

On Thu, Jun 4, 2009 at 12:00 AM, Pavel Sanda <sanda at lyx.org> wrote:
> i think that lyx sources should consider how the elyxer package is distributed,
> ie if the distribution change naming of the binary it should care of the
> lyx changes too. another possibility would be that elyxer distribute both
> scipts done by eg symlink, and i have even proposed this to Alex (dunno
> if he took my notice). then it would make sense to search for both.

I think that the best option would be to distribute just plain
'elyxer'. However Windows seems to have trouble executing it, and that
is why I changed it to 'elyxer.py': it works on all platforms. It
makes sense for Debian to change that back to plain 'elyxer'. I have
read that some distros (e.g. OpenSuse) keep the file extension for
scripts, so this decision should remain with the distributor.

IMHO LyX should however recognize both forms, as proposed by Sven.
Short version: minimize support issues. Long version: the reason is
that you don't want users who download or make their own version to
see LyX fail when 'elyxer' is there on their path (or 'elyxer.py' for
that matter). This problem would also result in the converse case: if
a distro-supplied eLyXer is mixed with a custom LyX. Since eLyXer and
LyX are distributed separately it is best to make any version work
with any other. Recognizing both forms might confuse people who have
e.g. 'elyxer' from their distro and then download a fresh 'elyxer.py',
place it on the path and see LyX still use the old one. But at least
you are confusing people who are doing something confusing; removing
then the distro version should do the trick.

Any other downside to recognizing both forms?

Cheers,

Alex.