[Pnet-developers] Handling Windows-isms in a CLI API

[Marcus]

I am working on an program similar to MSBuild and trying to provide the same 
API for compatibility. I have run across a problem where the API assumes that 
the filesystem is organized like Windows, and I do not know how to handle it 
in Unix-like systems. 

Someone writing an MSBuild client, would typically write this:

Engine myEngine = new Engine(@"c:\windows\microsoft.net\framework\v2.0.12345")

This sets the C# property myEngine.BinPath property to "c:
\windows\microsoft.net\framework\v2.0.12345", which is the path to 
MSBuild.exe. MSBuild also has "properties", and the constructor also sets the 
built-in MSBuild property MSBuildBinPath to the above string.

If the only purpose of BinPath/MSBuildBinPath were to locate MSBuild.exe, this 
might not be a big problem, but the main use of this property is to locate 
various build-related files, such as Microsoft.CSharp.targets. In other 
words, this API assumes that MSBuild.exe and the XML file 
Microsoft.CSharp.targets can be found in the same directory (i.e. the one 
specified in the ctor above). Certainly Linux people will balk at putting 
these files in places like /usr/local/bin.

I would appreciate some suggestions on how to handle this.

Marcus