cross-platform way to get home directory

Errto has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

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Re: cross-platform way to get home directory by borisz (Canon) on May 15, 2006 at 19:50 UTC
Or even better, use File::HomeDir. Boris	[reply]
Re: cross-platform way to get home directory by Herkum (Parson) on May 15, 2006 at 19:38 UTC
Windows does not have an explicit, HOMEDIR variable. It has other variables like USERPROFILE, HOMEDRIVE, HOMEPATH, and APPDATA. Windows stores most things in the Registry, especially for application. You need to describe what you are trying to achieve rather than tell us how you are going to do it.	[reply]
Re: cross-platform way to get home directory by Corion (Patriarch) on May 15, 2006 at 19:51 UTC
There is File::HomeDir, which provides and discusses the various directories in which stuff is stored.	[reply]
Re: cross-platform way to get home directory by davidrw (Prior) on May 15, 2006 at 19:54 UTC
a quick cpan search for "home" yields File::HomeDir (and File::HomeDir::Win32) and File::Save::Home .. see the File::Save::Home for some discussion/notes on the differences and where the windows locations are.	[reply]
Re: cross-platform way to get home directory by samtregar (Abbot) on May 15, 2006 at 19:34 UTC
Windows lacks a meaningful home-directory concept. On UNIX systems $ENV{HOME} is the gold-standard. -sam	[reply]
Re^2: cross-platform way to get home directory by ikegami (Patriarch) on May 15, 2006 at 19:42 UTC
Windows does have a home dir, but that's not where you want to place application settings Application settings should go in a subdir of the directory specified by registry value `HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\Local Settings` The subdir should be of the form `<company name>\<application name>`. Application data should go in a subdir of the directory specified by registry value `HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\Local AppData` The subdir should be of the form `<company name>\<application name>`. Replace `%USERPROFILE%` with the value of `$ENV{USERPROFILE}`.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: cross-platform way to get home directory by samtregar (Abbot) on May 15, 2006 at 20:00 UTC
Windows may have something called a home directory, but it's basically useless. It doesn't have any of the useful meaning that $ENV{HOME} has on Unix. -sam	[reply]
Re^4: cross-platform way to get home directory by ikegami (Patriarch) on May 15, 2006 at 21:21 UTC
Re^2: cross-platform way to get home directory by QM (Parson) on May 15, 2006 at 19:43 UTC
Not doubting you, but just one example. My XP system was setup (either automatically or by a human) with `HOMEDRIVE=d: HOMEPATH=\Documents and Settings\myusername` [download] I should go add `HOME=%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH` [download] though sweeping under the rug obvious problems with multiple users and delayed evaluation. For the OP, it may help to dictate to his/her users that `$ENV{HOME}` be set correctly. -QM -- Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of	[reply] [d/l] [select]