This is always a problem when I distribute my packages to colleagues working on different platforms. I have my packages installed into a private directory and I autoload some of them when Mathematica starts, but since everyone has a different folder hierarchy and different customs on where to put files/what to autoload, this is always a bottleneck. Should non-power-users simply use the menu option: Install...
? Can a foolproof script be defined, that - no matter what platform is in use - installs these packages in a way that both the user and both Mathematica (and the code I wrote and distributed) can find it? That is, packages are not added to the system-default package directory. Or would it be better to put packages into the default directory of Mathematica (e.g. C:\Applications\Mathematica 8.0.1\AddOns
)? If yes, then which directory should hold them: LegacyPackages
, ExtraPackages
or Packages
?
Further questions:
What if the package that I send consists of multiple packages, in a delicate directory structure? Can the menuitem Install...
deal with that?