[KDE/Mac] QStandardPaths possible solution

[Ian Wadham]

Hi Jeremy,

On 06/01/2015, at 7:51 AM, Jeremy Whiting wrote:
> Ok, we've had plenty of discussion on the other thread(s) imo and should start looking at a real solution.

Hear, hear.  Let's go for it… :-)

> I see the following requirements, but please correct me if I'm wrong.
> 
> 1. It should allow adding new paths via environment variables, and probably have a default <-- fixes CI issues on mac and also possibly runtime issues.
> 2. It should be fixed in Qt itself. Since Feature Freeze for Qt 5.5 is coming up in feb this needs to start now if we hope to get the fix into 5.5 (I, for one would like this)

The QSP doco would need updating too, especially the table of standard paths
on OS X, but perhaps also adding a para on XDG support.

> I've looked at Marko's patch and had to tweak it a bit to get it to apply to qt 5.4 branch. I've attached a first try here while it builds at the same time so I can test it.
> 
> I thought I'd also mention some long term goals/use cases for us to keep in mind.
> 
> 1. We want developers on mac to help with kde issues on mac, so getting to the point of (install standard qt, build with kdesrc-build or manually against it, run, profit) is a big goal for me.
> 2. We also want kf5 frameworks to be usable in other applications, so having the ability to say yes, use KNewStuff3 (which stores data in a standard place to know what it has installed, etc.) in your application on osx is just fine and will work with any Qt >= 5.5
> 3. We want (maybe?) our applications to be downloadable dmg files that can simply be copied into /Applications and run.

Items 1 and 2 agreed.  Item 3 would be amazing.  Longer term, I think we would need code in QSP
pick up the current MacPorts prefix, rather than hard-coding /opt/local/share.  Or even to pick up a
Homebrew prefix, etc.

> Actually for 3 I have some questions. On OS X do applications typically bundle everything inside their .app or do some install for example a shared copy of Qt or other libraries? I've seen mention of VirtualBox and other applications on the other thread. Do they all put Qt inside their .app folder?

Those would be questions for the MacPorts Developers mailing list.  Or maybe Brad or Nicolas knows the answers.

> Do we want to do the same for kde applications to be installable standalone, like Kate, Kanagram, Kgeography, KTuberling, KPat, etc.

What?  40 games and edu apps, each with its own copy of Qt 5?

> 4. We want macports to be able to easily create ports of our applications and libraries. This seems like it will be provided easily if 1 is accomplished, but may need to be kept in mind as there are some minor differences.
> 
> So if this patch looks ok to those reading this list I'll push it to gerrit and get the review process started. If there are things we should fix first, let me know and I'll adapt as needed.

Cheers, Ian W.