I think Arduino should move back to a folder structure where the Libraries are external to the Macintosh application package.
While I back stuff up (fortunately), I almost alway forget that installing a new version of Arduino WIPES OUT the existing Libraries that one might have added!!
What a pain in the butt to have to redownload and reinstall libraries that get destroyed.
Fortunately for me, I had everything backed up from 0019, so I just restored it and extracted the libraries, but it sure would be nice if the main Arduino application was separate from the libraries folder.
Something like:
Arduino (the actual application)
Arduino Libraries (all the standard libraries plus any added by the user)
Would be a better structure to prevent this problem.
This sounds good on the surface but loses the all-in-one nature of the software. Will people now have to download two pieces of software, the GUI and the libraries? What if a library is updated but someone only downloads the newest GUI without the libraries?
One of the strengths of the software is that it's one download and a true beginner doesn't even have to know what a library is, never mind worrying about versions and keeping software and libraries consistent.
I'm not a big fan of the 180 megabyte installation of AVR-GCC and AVR-LIBC that I already have (a more recent version of) installed on my computer but is duplicated in the Arduino app, but it's the same argument as above. It's just the price for all-in-one simplicity.
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The Rugged Motor Driver: two H-bridges, more power than an L298, fully protected
Arduino Libraries (all the standard libraries plus any added by the user)
In recent versions, you can put the user-added libraries in
~/Documents/Arduino/libraries instead of off in the applications directory. Almost what you're asking for.
I always install to /Applications/arduino/arduino-00xx/... so as to keep old versions around.
