[Lazarus] Lazarus config woes

[Hans-Peter Diettrich]

Martin schrieb:

> This whole discussion seems to mix 2 issues into one:
> - problems caused by using the wrong config due to none awareness (imho 
> the main issue)
> - convenience of using multiply configs.

The first problem disappears as soon as a config resides in the Lazarus 
directory, next the EXE file. Then Lazarus will definitiely use that 
config, and nothing can be screwed up by omission of a pcp.

The second problem seems to be the *need* for using a dedicated config 
for every Lazarus installation. Using the same installation with 
different configs looks as weird to me, as using multiple installations 
with the same config.

> Searching for config files in the exe dir (even if done) doesn't solve 
> the first issue, as there may not be any config files in that directory 
> to start with.
> In this case the unaware user is still screwed.

This situation is not different from the current one.

> And even if there are config files there, the unaware user, may just 
> have started a 2nd build (with different set of installed packages), by 
> copying another lazarus dir, and moved config files into the new dir, 
> which have values pointing back to the old dir, causing problems again.

You see what weird ideas a user can have, once he encounters problems 
with another installation? :-(

> Only checking, if the config files match the current installation can 
> solve that.

This cannot solve anything, except alerting the user that something's 
screwed up.

> AFAIK Mattias added a version check.

I don't see what should or could be checked at all, when the EXE doesn't 
reside in its Lazarus directory.

> IMHO for example any error about installed/not found packages at start 
> up, could also offer to run the setup dialog again (and point out which 
> config is used / warn about a potential conflict)

The problem occured when *no* config directory was specified on setup, 
and the setup decided *not* to overwrite the existing (default) config.

Setup better should know (no need to find out) that an already existing 
config cannot be reused without modifications.

> Only when the user is aware of the need to properly set up several 
> config dirs, the convenience of using them comes into play.

That's why I don't like the *need* to create, maintain and specify 
multiple configs in the first place :-(

DoDi