For several reasons (some to be explained elsewhere), I'm investigating "portable" apps: applications that can be run from a USB drive/thumb/stick without needing installation and without leaving any trace on the "host" computer. So naturally it occurred to me that Cirrus would be a good candidate for a portable app. It wouldn't take much:
I may have overlooked some details, but I'm pretty sure it's not much more complicated than outined above. And I'd love to have Cirrus as a portable application so I would only need to "borrow" a computer (or use one in an Internet cafe) if some quick or emergency changes would need to be made to a website when I'm not at home!
- What is currently stored in the registry is already minimal - that information could easily be stored in an .ini file in the installation directory instead;
- Currently, all other configurations (sessions, file formats, etc.) are stored in XML files, but with a predefined location: the only thing to change here is to make the location of those XML files configurable, and store that setting also in the .ini file in the instalation directory;
- Finally, shell integration obviously would not work (it requires entries in the registry) but this is already optional in the installer;
- The installer could just offer "portable" as an installation option and not even offer shell integration if that is chosen; the application could simply look for a local .ini file first, and if not found, look in the registry.
I may have overlooked some details, but I'm pretty sure it's not much more complicated than outined above. And I'd love to have Cirrus as a portable application so I would only need to "borrow" a computer (or use one in an Internet cafe) if some quick or emergency changes would need to be made to a website when I'm not at home!
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