[aspell-devel] install-dir home-dir prefix config keyword

[Gary Setter]

I added aspell spell check to a simple program of mine. That is
getting me thinking about the config keyword that are the base
for data-dir and dict-dir. Most Windows programs put their data
in the "Program Files" folder. Personal data goes under "My
Documents". "Program files" or "My Documents" can be renamed or
moved around. Aspell doesn't have anything that I can use to
setup a master config file that will fine those folders. There
are functions that I can call to find those directories, but I
need a hook so that I can call them.

I submitted a patch to add an install-dir keyword, the default
value is to call a function to find where the executable is. I
hope that it is accepted.

Now I'm thinking about a personal dir. It looks like the Unix
version defaults to $HOME or cwd. And the Windows version sets up
a default prefix which is "aspell-win32" which is a relative
path, relative to the cwd. I'd like something closer to $HOME.
There is a shell lib function to retrieve that folder name, but I
would have to modify the default value of home-dir to do it
properly.

What do people think? Is the value of getting a better default
home-dir worth the disruption of changing the default behavior
from one version of aspell to the next?