...ah. I thought Wii homebrew used "/wii/", but it looks like I was mistaken. Either way, "/homebrew/" is unnecessarily verbose, and the Wii U Homebrew Launcher directory structure is a good example.
I agree. And most importantly, I think it's a change less devs would want to use, and it's hard enough to get anyone to change as it is.
It's not like people are saving a bunch of non-homebrew 3DS and WiiU files anyways.
And iirc, wii uses sd:/apps/ lol, so it's in a worse state. But the scene is so old, nothing will change that.
I think this is a great idea, but there's one teeny tiny problem: you're assuming all devs would want to follow the standard.
I feel xkcd is perfect for this moment
Especially with ARM9 homebrew, given how every single chainloader and such has a different configuration format and directories.
Yeah, this is a problem. I think it's best to therefore make it less
competing and more compatible with current structure.
Using subdirectories in /3ds/ would be compatible with HBL currently in the starter pack (which will remain the most used for a while). There will simply be an apps directory in their HBL until they upgrade HBL to one with the necessary changes and move their games into /3ds/apps/
Additionally, homebrew devs can still refuse to use any separate /appdata/ subdir without anything breaking, and estbalishing a standard like that would actually not be competing since there is no standard (which is why everyone is saving their shit in root). If someone wants to make arm9 software, they likely just make a new root dir, and if someone is making userland homebrew that's both 3dsx and CIA compatible, they likely choose to hardcode path to /3ds/<game> and pollute their HBL (if ppl use CIA and not 3dsx). For freeShop, I was going to use /3ds/freeShop/ but since I decide to make it CIA-only, I chose to make a directory on root to avoid polluting HBL, no other established place for it.
I think arm9 devs could see the benefits of using something like /3ds/arm9/<app>, but the current /3ds/ destination just isn't inviting for any non-3dsx devs. In fact, this was almost by design. The devs of the 3dsx launcher/format were largely anti-CFW and really didn't want people using CIA or arm9 software. This should come to no surprise to anyone aware of all the private work that was kept from the public.