(Sorry, resending this to list - the Gmail interface defaults to a private reply and I keep making the mistake)
2009/10/23 Jon A. Cruz <jon@...18...>:
A simplistic approach of a solution is to merely switch the default. However what generally happens in these cases (and specifically in this one) is that you are seeing bug reports from those who don't like the current behavior, but you see no feedback at all from those who are happy with the current behavior.
I don't want just to flip the default, I want to change the behavior of the existing commands (import and paste) so that it follows intuition, and add new commands that explicitly expose the link behavior (see below).
BTW, we have looked at this issue for some time, and there are severe consequences to making embed the default. We definitely need to remember to keep those in mind as we make changes.
What are those issues?
Note that the current behavior is wrong on many levels: - For pasting, we create a PNG file in the same directory as the edited file with a crazy name like inkscape_pasted_image_20091023_144102.png and link it. - For importing via drag-and-drop, we embed. - For importing via the dialog, we make a link. The defaults are inconsistent, and the paste case is completely bogus because 1. It attempts to write to the directory where the doc is located, which may not be permitted (the directory and the doc might be read-only); 2. It creates a crazy filename; 3. It breaks when the user relocates the document. More importantly we cannot create links to things that might not even be in a file (like pasting pixels from GIMP).
Therefore we should default to embedding on paste and DnD, and have 2 import commands: Import, which embeds, and Link Image, which creates a link. Note that this will make Import behavior consistent across all formats. When importing SVG or other vector formats, we never create a link.
Regards, Krzysztof