;;;
;;; $Header: /home/gene/library/website/docsrc/pathnames-0/RCS/per-user-config.lisp,v 395.1 2008/04/20 17:25:56 gene Exp $
;;;

;;; Here are some expressions which determine 
;;; the pathname of "this" program's 
;;; configuration file.  For clarity, I'll 
;;; make liberal use of temporary variables, 
;;; though that is not the usual Lisp style. 

(defvar *home* (user-homedir-pathname) 
  "User's home directory.  We'll borrow the 
Unix convention that configuration files 
live in a user's home directory.")

(defvar *name* "myprog" 
  "The name of the configuration file. 
It might be a good idea if it has the 
same name as the program.  If we stuck 
strictly with the Unix convention, it would 
begin with a dot, but that isn't portable to 
all file systems, \& it might give the 
pathname functions of some Lisps a 
heart-attack.")

(defvar *type* "rc" 
  "The type of the configuration file.  
Could be nearly anything.  For 
portability, it's safest to have a file 
type, \& there is precedent for rc.")

(defvar *basepath*
        (make-pathname :name *name* 
                       :type *type*
                       :version :newest)
  "We'll create the config file's actual
pathname by merging this with the
pathname of the user's home directory.")

(defvar *config* 
        (merge-pathnames *basepath* *home*)
  "And now *CONFIG* is bound to the
pathname of the config file.")

(format t "~&~A" (namestring *config*))

;;; --- end of file ---