UserdirAndCachedirFoldersInSystemSpecificPaths

--cachedir

In 7.1 a new command-line option "--cachedir" has been introduced to allow optional separate path for the cache part of user data previously stored in var/cache/ subfolder in userdir.

Different defaults for userdir and cachedir paths on different systems

Issue Issue 196075 deals with separating the preferences part of userdir and the cache part into two different locations as a new default behavior on Windows. The motivation is to start storing user data under the Windows-specific standard path (under <AppData> and <Local AppData> folders) and to improve performance for roaming user profiles by separating the huge cache part into the non-roaming folder (<Local AppData>).

The change being prepared also aims to pick more suitable defaults for Mac OS-X and Linux users.

The following changes will need to be introduced for the path change:

netbeans.conf variables for default userdir and cachedir paths

# On Windows ${DEFAULT_USERDIR_ROOT} will be replaced by the launcher
# with a path to "<AppData>/NetBeans" folder where <AppData> is user's
# value of AppData key in Windows Registry under
#   Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
# ${DEFAULT_CACHEDIR_ROOT} will be replaced by the launcher
# with a path to "<Local AppData>/NetBeans/Cache" folder where <Local AppData>
# is user's value of Local AppData key in Windows Registry under
#   Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
#
# On Mac ${DEFAULT_USERDIR_ROOT} will be replaced by the launcher
# with a path to ~/Library/Application Support/NetBeans
# ${DEFAULT_CACHEDIR_ROOT} with a path to ~/Library/Caches/NetBeans
#
# On other systems ${DEFAULT_USERDIR_ROOT} will be replaced with
# a path to ~/.netbeans folder in user's home and
# ${DEFAULT_CACHEDIR_ROOT} with a path to ~/.cache/netbeans folder.
#
# You can also use ${HOME} which will be replaced by user.home
# system property.
#
# NOTE: If you specify a non-default userdir path, the cachedir path
# will be mapped to <userdir>/var/cache folder.
#
netbeans_default_userdir="${DEFAULT_USERDIR_ROOT}/version"
netbeans_default_cachedir="${DEFAULT_CACHEDIR_ROOT}/version"

Windows netbeans.exe launcher - retrieves AppData and Local AppData keys from Windows registry and uses these paths to resolve the userdir and cachedir paths iff they do contain ${DEFAULT_USERDIR_ROOT} and ${DEFAULT_CACHEDIR_ROOT} variables - it passes the resulting paths to nbexec.exe as --userdir and --cachedir parameters

Unix/Mac netbeans launcher - resolves the userdir and cachedir paths iff they do contain ${DEFAULT_USERDIR_ROOT} and ${DEFAULT_CACHEDIR_ROOT} variables with
- on Mac - ${DEFAULT_USERDIR_ROOT} is ~/Library/Application Support/NetBeans and ${DEFAULT_CACHEDIR_ROOT} is ~/Library/Caches/NetBeans (Important Java Directories on Mac OS X)
- otherwise - the paths to ~/.netbeans and ~/.cache/netbeans - it passes the resulting paths to nbexec as --userdir and --cachedir parameters

installer - tracked as Issue 207501
- ~~installer/mac/newbuild/netBeans/baseide/pkg/scripts/servicetag.sh - changes ownership of .superId on Mac~~
- installer/engine/src/org/netbeans/installer/wizard/components/actions/netbeans/NbShowUninstallationSurveyAction.java - reads superId from .netbeans directory

uninstaller will allow removing userdir (asking the user with the checkbox as before), cachedir folder will be removed automatically without asking - the paths will be resolved using the same mechanism as in the launchers
- tracked as Issue 207501

autoupdate.services - no change needed

autoupdate.ui - contains hardcoded ".netbeans" as default home for all userdirs - it is using the path to create/read superId file - needs to be able to read the old location until it creates the file (by copying the old one) in the new location at ${DEFAULT_USERDIR_ROOT} - the location could be resolved using the new API's Places.getUserDirectory().getParentFile() and possibly first checking Places.userDirectory.name =~ /dev|[0-9.]+/ to be sure we are looking into the default userdir root
- tracked as Issue 207502

reglib - a part of NBI Engine - uses hardcoded ".netbeans" as well, reading/creating superId file -- dtto above

autoupdate.pluginimporter - contains hardcoded ".netbeans/6.9", ".netbeans/6.8" etc. to check for the previous installations - needs to start looking at the new paths for upcoming releases
- tracked as Issue 207505

o.n.upgrader - contains hardcoded ".netbeans/6.9", ".netbeans/6.8" etc. to check for the previous installations - needs to start looking at the new paths for upcoming releases
- tracked as Issue 207503

options.api - uses "user.home" property as a default root dir for all userdirs (Import Dialog) - needs to be able to read both old and new paths
- tracked as Issue 207503