[modules-dev] Issue re location of extension & user repositories

[Stanley M. Ho]

Hi Dave,

Dave Bristor wrote:
> If we base the location of the latter on what is standard for system 
> extensions, we have a slight problem, in that the location varies across 
> platforms:
> %SystemRoot%\Sun\Java\lib\ext           [Microsoft Windows]
> /usr/java/packages/lib/ext              [Linux]
> /usr/jdk/packages/lib/ext               [Solaris OS]
> 
> (From http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/technotes/guides/extensions/spec.html)
> 
> We have a similar situation with the user repository: on my solaris box the 
> logical place would be $HOME/.java (linux too, presumably) but on Windows it 
> is %SystemRoot%\$USER\Application Data\Sun\Java.
> 
> The current mechanism of configuring repositories allows for at most 
> specifying the class of repository to be used in a particular case.  One 
> solution is to use a set of locations that have more in common than the above. 
>   Another is to introduce a factory into the configuration, which can choose 
> the location.  

The repository locations will definitely be somewhat different on each 
platform. Another alternative is to introduce new standard system 
properties into SE, e.g. "repository.user.home" and 
"repository.system.home". We could define their defaults on the SE 
supported platforms, and make use of them directly in the configuration.

- Stanley