xenic wrote:
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The question is: Why is a directory (APPDIR:) full of text files being added to the default command path in S-S??
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APPDIR: is a filesystem, just like RAM: or any other volume, it's not full of "text files", it contains only softlinks.
The softlinks are created by the appdir_filesystem from the "text file" data held in the appdir_server's cache.
The appdir_server maintains those text data files which are updated when most commands are loaded.
So, the reason APPDIR: is added to the end of the global path is because if something is searching for a command
using the old style global path search method and the command is not found, at the end of the search it has one extra
chance to see if you had it installed somewhere else not in the normal path.
This just allows you to have every program you actually used, to be found in a shell or wherever, without having
to specify an actual full dos path for it.
It's also extremely handy for specifying tooltypes and external commands in tools like DirectoryOpus and friends,
that way if the path changes for a tool, you don't have to go through the config and change every directory utility,
email program, browser, etc... to the new tools path, they can always be found in APPDIR: