[X-Unix] path for terminal.app and x11

[William H. Magill]

On 16 May, 2005, at 09:15, John Harrold wrote:
> Sometime in May William H. Magill assaulted the keyboard and produced:
>
> | Anything which operates from the AQUA GUI (the login window)  
> requires
> | the path (and other similar stuff) be entered in the ~/.MacOSX/
> | environment.plist file.
>
> Now this is mighty interesting. Since I don't seem to have this  
> directory,
> I assume that it isn't created when a user account is created.

That is correct. That is explained in the developer docs, QA 1067:

"You will also have to create the environment file yourself."

> You
> mentioned the environment.plist file, but I would assume there are  
> other
> files which are commonly found in the ~/.MacOSX directory.

No.
At least at this point in time, environment.plist is the only file
described as being defined.

Obviously one could just as easily write an application to read some
other file either in that directory or any other directory.

Many config/state-retention files are kept in /Library/Preferences or
~/Library/Preferences others are kept in "Application Support.

And, obviously, apps keep things in random places depending entirely  
upon
the whim of whoever wrote the app and whatever "style" was currently in
vogue at the time it was written ... as well as changes over time.

Even "classic unix" apps are quite guilty of this phenomena, where they
get and store config params or state information are anything but
consistent. If one examines something like  X11, one discovers that
there are a HUGE number of options (file locations) for locating  
different
parameter information, and the list of which ones override which is just
as long. "Customization" is accomplished by "flexibility." The plethora
of options is used to assure job security for those known as "Unix  
Gurus"
or "Unix Wizards."

> I know that
> OS X is based on bsd so this might be a System V question since I'm  
> more
> familiar with Linux: Is there a skeleton directory similar to /etc/ 
> skel
> for the ~/.MacOSX directory that contians files commonly used?

Yes.

A) /usr/share/skel does exist, however since adduser/useradd does not  
exist,
    I don't know that it is used for anything by Apple's account  
creation process.

B) The system's default user template is:
     /System/Library/User Template .... in the appropriate subdirectory.

C) The Macintosh Manager tool can be used to add and modify templates.
      (OS X Server).


T.T.F.N.
William H. Magill
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