Is there any %LOCALAPPDATA% on Windows XP? If not, what is the difference between %LOCALAPPDATA% and %APPDATA% in Windows Vista/7?
XP does not define the %LOCALAPPDATA% environment variable, but it is equivalent to %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data. Data in local application data folders remains on one computer and is not stored on a Windows server in a Windows domain setting. Data in application data folders can be transferred over the local network when a user accesses his data on multiple computers. So for larger user data files the local application data folder is often more suitable. Microsoft uses the folder for things like "click once" applications and Google uses it to store Google Chrome so people do not need administrator permission to install it. I run the Haskell platform on XP with the cabal --user config setting on a limited account and i don't have any issues. I think it is better if the platform itself is installed by an administrator account and shared by all users like on Unix. Ideally in a path without any spaces because that prevents a lot of issues when compiling packages that use C bindings. I myself store most software originating from the Unix world in C:\Applications instead of C:\Program Files and the platform folder should preferably be named HaskellPlatform instead of Haskell Platform. Regards, Felix