The dmd.conf rant

[Oren Tirosh via Digitalmars-d]

On Wednesday, 1 April 2015 at 02:29:05 UTC, Martin Nowak wrote:
> [...]
>
> ### conclusion
>
> The lookup order for the config file should be changed to the 
> following.
> - next to dmd binary (highest precedence so that I can have 
> multiple
> installations)
> - per-user conf folder (HOME) (to override the system-wide 
> config)
> - system-wide conf folder (to allow package installations 
> .deb/.rpm)
>
> The current situation is unmaintainable.

How about a sensible default that makes the configuration file 
unnecessary in most cases? This should be similar to the way %@P% 
is handled, but relative to the path of the compiler executable 
rather than the conf file

The default for unix-like systems could be:

[Environment32]
DFLAGS=-I%@E%/../include/dmd/phobos 
-I@%E@/../include/dmd/druntime/import -L-L@%E@/../lib 
-L--export-dynamic

[Environment64]
DFLAGS=-I@%E@/../include/dmd/phobos 
-I@%E@/../include/dmd/druntime/import -L-L@%E@/../lib64 
-L--export-dynamic

This should work for both global configurations (/usr/, 
/usr/local/) and private configurations under your work directory 
as long as they maintain the same general structure.

It would be nice if the default could some also be made to work 
for a side-by-side checkout of the dmd and druntime repositories 
with a strategically-placed symlink or some other minimal change.

Using dmd.conf should be reserved for exceptions, not the rule.