I think it should be the following order
/etc/xboard/xboard.conf
~/.xboard/xboard.conf
This is what is common on Linux. There should be a command line argument
for specifying an alternative configuration file (or perhaps config
directory).
Michel
I think for linux the user file should go into
~/.config/xboard/xboard.conf
That's where newer programs on my computer put there config files...
other programs use something like ~/.xboardrc
I remember reading somewhere that .conf should be the ending for config
files, but I can't find a reference for that at the moment.
ARUN
Hmm, no agreement there... In fact the existing code allows an "-ini
FILENAME"
option in a settings file; encountering such an option makes XBoard
first process
the mentioned file as settings file, before finishing the processing
of the original
settings file. In addition the given FILENAME is remembered, and used
whenever
the settings are saved later. So if we use that option as the final
option occurring
in the system-wide settings file, the default place for the user
settings need not
be hard-coded, but becomes configurable itself. The compiled-in
defaults would
only have to decide on the standard place for the system-wide settings
(e.g.
/etc/xboard/xboard.conf), and only when the user would append as a
last line
to that file "-ini ./xboard.ini" he would read (and overrule) and save
settings from
an ini file in the current directory. Users that do not like that
could add the line
"-ini ~/xboard.ini" or "-ini ~/.config/xboard/xboard.conf" or "-ini
~/.xboard/xboard.conf"
in stead, depending on their preference. The maintainer creating the
binary package
could decide which configuration fits the conventions of his
distribution best,
and include a system-wide settings file with the appropriate definition.
If no secondary settings file was defined in the primary one, saving
the settings
would occur in the primary one.