Directory Tree

[rasczak]

I was thinking about all things that was said about installing apps, repository, etc, and a big answer comes to me. How SD storage will be organized? I think NAND storage isn't pretty important for users as it is only for OS and will not be (at least at a moment) accesible for user data, but SD are much different.

I expect SD cards for use as main storage for apps, emulators, etc, will have some kind of strict directory tree to locate them (directory for apps, directory for user preferences and so on), as habitual, and more important if, like someones said for, installing apps will go as simple as put it on the memory (so I think Pandora will perform some kind of scan of the apps directory to find news apps in every start or by user request).

Well, all of this is because I was wondering if Pandora will have an internal little app that could "set" a SD card for proper use, setting the directory tree (so the new software could be easily installed from a PC, simply knowing where to put it), or some kind of Pandora management for PC.

PD: Sorry if many of my statements have mistakes, my english is not as good as I wolud want.

 

[Squidge]

The problem would be that if there was a directory structure enforced, some people would complain as they want it different than that specification. Some people might want to put all stuff in Apps for example, whilst others may want Emus, Games, etc. Same goes for rom and data directories.

 

[rasczak]

So, what will be the solution to that?

 

[bigtruck]

There was discussion of a union mount a while back, an idea I really liked. Perhaps there could even be a union mount at /. That way, /home, /bin, /opt, etc could have configuration files and apps and the like, just like a normal linux system. Hopefully all apps, games, etc. will be released in a package format, so there could be a /pkg dir or something on the SD card, and you'd just put the packages in there, and when you put it in the Pandora you run some sort of package installer that installs all the packages in that directory, extracting them to the SD card's filesystem. The user shouldn't really have to concern himself about where the package winds up. The problem I think this would present would be people who like to switch SD cards, but a simple solution would be to keep the installed package list on the SD card itself. For videos, music, etc, the user could be able to store them whereever he/she wants, e.g. /home, or make a /data directory like I do (/data/music, /data/vid, /data/books, etc.)

If anyone doesn't know what union mounts are, I'd recommend doing a search, but here's the brief version. The SD card is mounted on top of the NAND, and any files for example in /bin on the NAND and /bin on the SD get placed in the same directory. The files on the NAND are read-only, all changes made or files added are saved to the SD card.