Feature request: Change default library path on Windows
On 25/07/2021 9:54 a.m., Steve Haroz wrote:
Shouldn't it be in one of the AppData directories?
I asked that same question on twitter. Here was a response (https://twitter.com/bmwiernik/status/1419033079495147522): * But it's not for files that should be user-accessible, like a library (cf. Zotero has preferences in AppData , but library files in %USERPROFILE%/Zotero) * So, for example, in R's case it could make sense for the core packages to be installed in %APPDATA%/R/R-4.1.0/library" rather than "C:/Program Files/R/R-4.1.0/library" (either is fairly common), but user packages should be somewhere more accessible. Here is a quote from https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/design/app-settings/store-and-retrieve-app-data: "App data is mutable data that is created and managed by a specific app. It includes runtime state, app settings, user preferences, reference content (such as the dictionary definitions in a dictionary app), and other settings" I don't think libraries fall into the categories of state or settings.
I saw that link, and like you and Gabe, found it somewhat ambiguous. I don't know bmwiernik, but from the sound of it, he doesn't speak for Microsoft. So I would say that I still believe Microsoft doesn't give clear guidance for this. Yes, %USERPROFILE%/R has some non-Microsoft precedents, but that's irrelevant. This is an issue to take up with MS, not with R. Let them describe *clearly* what they want, and R will (eventually) do it (but probably not before they've changed their clear guidance). Duncan Murdoch P.S. I am a former member of R Core who did Windows support. I now detest that OS. I suspect nobody who is still on R Core doesn't detest it.