Needed: a convention to indicate a path for Windows, Linux, and Mac

[Combs, Richard]

Leonard C. Porrello wrote:
 
> The applications I am documenting runs on Windows, Linux, and 
> Mac. In several places, I need to indicate to users that the 
> files they need are located at the application installation 
> location on the hard drive. In Windows, this is "c:/Program 
> files/Product_Name/Folder/File.cfg". In Linux, the path is 
> different, starting from the fact that there is no "c:".
> 
> I need a convention to indicate path prior to 
> "/Product_Name/Folder/File.cfg". The convention needs to work 
> for Windows, Linux, and Mac.

Not only do all three use different directory separators -- backslash,
forward slash, and colon, respectively -- but the location itself won't
be the same (and may not be the same for all installs on a given OS).
So, don't specify an absolute path, always specify the path relative to
the installation directory. In descriptive text, just refer to "the
Folder subdirectory of the Product_Name installation directory." 

In code or path examples, I'd use the forward slash as separator because
that's the UNC (Universal Naming Convention) standard, it works for both
Linux/UNIX and (usually) DOS/Windows, and the Mac-heads should
understand it. You might use a variable for the installation directory,
putting it in italics, angle brackets, or both:
"<_ProductHome_>/Folder/File.cfg"  

> 
> I currently have ellipses (".../Product_Name/Folder"), but my 
> development lead tells me that this won't do as ellipses are 
> sometimes used literally. Does anyone have any other ideas?

One and two dots in a path have special meanings: "./Folder" means "the
Folder subdirectory of the current directory," and "../Folder" means
"the Folder subdirectory of the current directory's parent directory."
If three dots has a special meaning, it's news to me.

HTH!
Richard


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Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
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rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
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