[Octave-bug-tracker] [bug #58299] Local packages for different Octave versions cannot be installed in parallel

[Markus Mützel]

URL:
  <https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?58299>

                 Summary: Local packages for different Octave versions cannot
be installed in parallel
                 Project: GNU Octave
            Submitted by: mmuetzel
            Submitted on: Mon 04 May 2020 12:35:40 PM CEST
                Category: Interpreter
                Severity: 3 - Normal
                Priority: 5 - Normal
              Item Group: Unexpected Error
                  Status: None
             Assigned to: None
         Originator Name: 
        Originator Email: 
             Open/Closed: Open
                 Release: 6.0.90
         Discussion Lock: Any
        Operating System: Any

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Details:

The local package store for Windows is in %USERPROFILE%\octave atm.
It is possible to install several different versions of Octave (very easy on
Windows). All of these versions share the same local package store.
But .oct files are usually not binary compatible between versions. In another
bug report [1], Philip wrote that also some .m files might be different
depending on the Octave version.
So updating a local package in one version of Octave can break it for the
other version.

This issue will get more prominent because we plan on installing packages to
the local store by default on Windows starting Octave 6.

Maybe the local package store should also include the Octave (major) version
or API version in the path.

I believe there was a bug report about moving the local package store to
%LOCALAPPDATA% or something. But I can no longer find that bug. So opening a
new bug here.

I'd like to propose to store the local packages at
%LOCALAPPDATA%/octave/{version} where {version} is the string returned by
"version" (e.g. "6.1.0").

While this bug is focused mainly on the situation on Windows, it might make
sense to make a similar change on all platforms. After all, after updating to
a newer Octave version (or a downgrade fwiw), it is necessary to recompile all
installed packages. So it would make sense to not list them from their old
location when they probably won't work anyway.

Any thoughts?

[1]: https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/index.php?58225#comment10




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