[Bug]: Non-canonical default for GRADLE_USER_HOME in gradle

[mwisnicki]

Prerequisites

• I have written a descriptive issue title.
• I have searched all issues/PRs to ensure it has not already been reported or fixed.
• I have verified that I am using the latest version of Scoop and corresponding bucket.

Package Name

gradle

Expected/Current Behaviour

I'm migrating manually installed gradle to the one managed by scoop and expect it to follow reasonable/canonical defaults.

The default value of GRADLE_USER_HOME for upstream gradle is ~/.gradle however gradle package from scoop effectively changes that to ~\scoop\apps\gradle\current\.gradle.

This means that caches are not reused and I'm wasting a ton of space.

Scoop should follow Principle Of Least Surprise and stick to upstream defaults unless there is a good justification for doing so and in which case it must be documented.

Related: #4512

Steps to Reproduce

scoop install gradle
ls ~/.gradle ~/scoop/apps/gradle/current/.gradle

Possible Solution

Default GRADLE_USER_HOME to ~/.gradle or do not set it at all.

OR

Document why it absolutely has to be non-standard by default.

Scoop and Buckets Version

$ scoop --version
Current Scoop version:
v0.3.1 - Released at 2022-11-15

'main' bucket:
6ef223035 (HEAD -> master, origin/master, origin/HEAD) watchman: Update to version 2023.08.07.00

Scoop Config

$ scoop config

last_update                       scoop_branch scoop_repo
-----------                       ------------ ----------
2023-08-07T11:56:54.9662627-04:00 master       https://github.com/ScoopInstaller/Scoop

PowerShell Version

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      5.1.22621.1778
PSEdition                      Desktop
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
BuildVersion                   10.0.22621.1778
CLRVersion                     4.0.30319.42000
WSManStackVersion              3.0
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1

Additional Softwares

No response

[mwisnicki]

I looked around a bit and found that usage of persist directory in scoop is sadly by design.

In that case maybe we can consider some of these options instead:

1. Default to ~/.grade only if it exists
2. Migrate ~/.gradle to scoop/persist if it exists
   • create ~/.gradle/MIGRATED-TO-SCOOP.txt so the user knows what's going on ?

[mwisnicki]

Also this is somewhat inconsistent with scoop's maven - which still uses ~/.m2 but maybe that should be considered a bug of maven package?

[HUMORCE]

I have believed that any migration should be done manually by the user, but some people don't think so.

Migrate ~/.gradle to scoop/persist if it exists

That's fine, then tell the users GRADLE_USER_HOME has been set to $dir\.gradle or $persist_dir\.gradle. I am not a gradle user, so if you are good with it, fell free to improve it.

[mwisnicki]

Btw what is the rationale for moving application config/cache to persist directory?

I've found https://github.com/ScoopInstaller/Scoop/wiki/Persistent-data but that answers what/when but not why.

[HUMORCE]

The apps that install best with Scoop are commonly called "portable" apps: i.e. compressed program files that run stand-alone when extracted and don't have side-effects like changing the registry or putting files outside the program directory.

https://github.com/ScoopInstaller/Scoop#what-sort-of-apps-can-scoop-install

Scoop usually relocates files/dirs(configs, profiles, etc.) of programs via files, environment variables, or CLI options.

btw, that's why I use Scoop instead of winget or choco, we can got this with any installation but Scoop is more intuitive and easier.

[rashil2000]

@mwisnicki could you make a PR to include an additional condition which checks for the existence of ~/.gradle folder in the post_install script?