Re: [DotGNU]pnetlib and the VRS, SEE and other server concepts

[Rhys Weatherley]

Paolo Molaro wrote:

> I guess we should coordinate were to put the assemblies. mono
> currently puts them all in $prefix/lib, but I'd like to put at least
> corlib and the other assemblies that depend on the mono runtime
> in $prefix/lib/mono or $prefix/share/mono.

Might I suggest $prefix/lib/assembly or $prefix/share/assembly
as the standard place where common assemblies are placed,
with directories like $prefix/(lib,share)/assembly/mono and pnet
for assemblies that are truly implementation-specific?

Note: I would normally classify something like mcs and its
dependencies as common assemblies because they are
"straight C#".  i.e. they would go into $prefix/(lib,share)/assembly.
So, the "mono" and "pnet" directories are only for things that
cannot be made cross-system.

We also need a standard search path order.  I suggest this:

- Look in the same directory as the parent assembly that
  linked this one in.
- Look in any user-specified search directories (e.g. from
   command-line options).
- Look in the directories specified by ASSEMBLY_PATH.
- Look in $prefix/(lib,share)/assembly/mono or pnet
- Look in $prefix/(lib,share)/assembly

This way, each implementation can override specific
common assemblies if there is some need to do so.

As to "lib" vs "share", it is a toss-up.  Assemblies are code
to our runtimes, but data to the underlying OS.  Pick one.
I don't care which.  Arguments can be made either way.

Cheers,

Rhys.