On Sat, 18 Jan 2003, Jim Bernard wrote:

> On Sat, Jan 18, 2003 at 03:37:38PM +0700, Robert Elz wrote:
> >     Date:        Fri, 17 Jan 2003 10:52:49 -0600
> >     From:        Rob Windsor <windsor@warthog.com>
> >     Message-ID:  <200301171652.h0HGqp804399@warthog.com>
> >
> > The statement is simple, doesn't make the operation simple for the users.
> > PATH is explained everywhere (elementary books, etc), and it is easy to
> > work out what to set it to - XAPPLRESDIR ??
> >
> >   | Ah yes, everyone types /path/to/my/binary, all the time.
> >
> > That wasn't the point.   The point was that things work if they are
> > invoked that way.   Nothing should ever require the existence of
> > an env var to function (for at least basic functionality) (and that
> > vi requires TERM set is a bug, it should operate in at least ex mode
> > without it).
> >
> >   | So you're telling us that "mount the foo filesystem union on top of the bar
> >   | filesystem with the `hidden' flag" is easier for users
> >   | than "set XAPPLSRESDIR to /usr/pkg/lib/X11/app-defaults"?
> >
> > Of course it is, because the users don't do it, I do.   They do nothing
> > at all.   Stuff just works.
>
>   So, what's wrong with setting XAPPLSRESDIR in /etc/login.conf?  Or in the
> system-wide shell startup files?  Users don't need to take any action at
> all in that case either.  (Actually, there is one problem with the login.conf
> case---openssh doesn't use it; but it's not too hard to hack sshd to fix
> that.)

XAPPLRESDIR can only include one directory and its used to define
XUSERFILESEARCHPATH. The main variable is XFILESEARCHPATH.

man X(7)

Since NetBSD could have the app-defaults under both /usr/pkg and
/usr/X11R6, maybe it would be better to modify the NetBSD config file for
X11 to include /usr/pkg/lib/X11/app-defaults/ in the XFILESEARCHPATH? If
you want to modify login.conf it would be better to set
XFILESEARCHPATH since a user could define XUSERFILESEARCHPATH and override
XAPPLRESDIR.

XFILESEARCHPATH=/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/%L/%T/%N%C%S:\
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/%l/%T/%N%C%S:\
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/%T/%N%C%S:\
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/%L/%T/%N%S:\
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/%l/%T/%N%S:\
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/%T/%N%S:\
/usr/pkg/lib/X11/%L/%T/%N%C%S:\
/usr/pkg/lib/X11/%l/%T/%N%C%S:\
/usr/pkg/lib/X11/%T/%N%C%S:\
/usr/pkg/lib/X11/%L/%T/%N%S:\
/usr/pkg/lib/X11/%l/%T/%N%S:\
/usr/pkg/lib/X11/%T/%N%S

>From quick perusal of the X11 imake config files, adding a new definition
of XFileSearchPathDefault in NetBSD.cf would be enough to make this stick
in a release build of X11.

Ron Roskens