PaulStoffregen
Well-known member
Perhaps we might see the Teensy related files one day in ~user/Library/Application Support/Teensyduino ?
This would certainly follow the model Arduino is now using, where the release of core libraries and 3rd party libraries are decoupled from the Arduino IDE releases. Installing libs and updating the core library gets shared among all copies of Arduino on your system. But from an end users perspective on Macintosh, isn't Library folder is also hidden by the Finder?
From a software support perspective, I really like the way we have things now. A single Teensyduino release number tells us pretty complete picture of which set of libraries the user has. Everything Teensyduino installs is localized to a single copy of Arduino, including a variety of patches to the Arduino IDE's Java code.
There is of course the ongoing issue that users sometimes install other copies of libraries in Documents/Arduino/libraries and don't realize they are overriding the libs Teensyduino installed. I'm actually considering more patches to the IDE to help deal with that scenario, maybe someday even with a little GUI to let them tell Arduino to use Teensyduino's copy.
Anyway, my concern with following Arduino's path is the added support burden. I'm concerned Arduino's way isn't the best way for Teensy.
The Arduino devs rarely get involved in end user questions on their forums. Their policy towards any libraries other than the dozen they publish with the IDE is "we don't support that code". When you're Arduino, you can expect others to adapt their libs. But that approach is becoming less & less effective as they add more products. The Arduino world is filled with libs that only work on Uno & Mega, or some other small subset of Arduino's products, and now even quite a number of libs that have only been tested on ESP8266 or Teensy or some other board.
I generally do patch 3rd party libs. I pretty regularly do add small patches to Teensyduino's core lib to support certain software. And while I don't always manage to keep up with all forum activity, I certainly do try. I don't wish to be inflexible to other ideas, and indeed several people have asked me to adopt's Arduino's new way of installing. But I'm not very excited about it. While there are some possible benefits, my main concern it how it will complicate providing end user support here on the forum.