Gentoo Archives: gentoo-dev

From: Michael Wojcikiewicz <mike@××××××××.net>
To: gentoo-user@g.o, gentoo-dev@g.o
Subject: [gentoo-dev] [OT perhaps] filessystem layouts and usability
Date: Sun, 11 May 2003 01:45:22
Message-Id: 200305102103.15817.mike@codecrew.net
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4 Over the last few months I have found myself using a different than
5 traditional directory structure more and more for keeping track of all my
6 files. A few articles on slashdot recently have brought this point up too
7 (gobo and that 'if i rolled my own distro' article), and after having seen my
8 roomate's OSX in action actually using a structure like this I have to say
9 I'm intruiged at the possibility of bringing this to gentoo.
10
11 I'm sure many many many many people will see this as a perversion of
12 tradtional unix filesystem layouts, but I hope they will at least have an
13 open mind and take this seriously for a second. Using what *I* consider a
14 fairly intuitive layout, I've had my home dir setup like below for a while
15 and it makes for quick shell navigation because of a few factors that I'll
16 mention after:
17
18 ~/Documents (also has Manuals, Books, Receipts and such)
19 ~/Music (genre separation)
20 ~/Zips (old habit but its easier to type Z than T[arballs] IMHO.. has my
21 downloaded archives)
22 ~/Videos (trailers and p2p type stuff)
23 ~/Images (such things as Photos, Wallpapers)
24 ~/Desktop (KDE/GNOME desktop)
25 ~/Programs (user installed programs like crossover/wine and its apps)
26 ~/Src (untarred source for custom builds)
27 ~/tmp (another old habit)
28 ~/dev (im a developer, this is where i keep my own source)
29
30 Because no matter how hard i try there are always leftover files that dont fit
31 into these cluttering up the filesystem, I found myself having to type too
32 many of the characters of a directory when maneuvering the filessytem in bash
33 (ahh emacs mode i love thee). So having the first letter capitalized always
34 made it easy to get to where i wanted to go quickly. Additional benefits are
35 for example in file dialogs (ie. the KDE open file dialog) where the sorting
36 will 'float' those directories to the top for quick selection (yes I know KDE
37 can be configured to show directories first:).
38
39 Extending this basic idea for home to the entire filesystem seems like the
40 next logical step. Because of gentoo's roll-it-yourself nature, portage
41 seems like the perfect candidate to be able to pull this off without giving
42 too many headaches, which is why I am writing this in the first place. I'm
43 curious if anyone else agrees or if I've just become certifiably insane. :)
44
45 - --
46 Michael Wojcikiewicz
47 mike@××××××××.net
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