[Octave-bug-tracker] [bug #59821] [octave forge] (ga) pkg update with ga 0.10.2 installs in user home folder instead of packages folder on windows

[Markus Mützel]

Follow-up Comment #7, bug #59821 (project octave):

That change was intentional to have consistent behavior cross-platform. Linux
also updates packages to the local package store unless it is run as root.

>From the documentation of `pkg`:
> Packages can be installed globally (i.e., for all users of the system) or
locally (i.e., for the current user only). 
> Global packages are installed by default in a system-wide location. This is
usually a subdirectory of the folder where Octave itself is installed.
Therefore, Octave needs write access to this folder to install global
packages. That usually means that Octave has to run with root access (or "Run
as administrator" on Windows) to be able to install packages globally. 
> In contrast, local packages are installed by default in the user’s home
directory (profile on Windows) and are only available to that specific user.
Usually, they can be installed without root access (or administrative
privileges). 
> For global and local packages, there are separate databases holding the
information about the installed packages. If some package is installed
globally as well as locally, the local installation takes precedence over
("shadows") the global one. Which package installation (global or local) is
used can also be manipulated by using prefixes and/or using the
‘local_list’ input argument. Using these mechanisms, several different
releases of one and the same package can be installed side by side as well
(but cannot be loaded simultaneously). 

Improvements to the documentation are always welcome.

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