GNU bug report logs - #22935
W32 Binaries should have a top-level directory

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Message #8 received at 22935 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: phillip.lord <at> russet.org.uk (Phillip Lord)
Cc: 22935 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#22935: W32 Binaries should have a top-level directory
Date: Tue, 08 Mar 2016 20:52:32 +0200

> From: phillip.lord <at> russet.org.uk (Phillip Lord)
> Date: Mon, 07 Mar 2016 21:12:48 +0000
> 
> I would suggest that future Emacs zip files contain a top-level
> directory with the same name as the zip file, underneath which comes
> /var, /share, /bin, plus README.W32, plus COPYING. This still makes it
> easily to install over an existing distribution with a copy command.

I don't quite agree with the last sentence.  There's no 'cp' on
Windows out of the box, so either people will use XCOPY or the Windows
Explorer.  Both will by default nag users about overwriting existing
files in the destination, and not everyone will know how to work
around that.

Besides, I think most people will simply leave the files in the
directory where they were unpacked, and will then have to play with
their PATH or rename the top-level directory.

By contrast, if the zip archive does NOT have a top-level directory,
it is easy to create one upon unpacking: the 'unzip' command has the
"-d" switch for that, and unpacking from Explorer will actually
suggest a separate directory by default.

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