Reply To: How to prevent DITA-OT copy to user directory?

[Derek Read]

The DITA_OT_DIR parameter should work in 5.5 but usage of this parameter (in any release) and whether or not it will actually successfully end in output being generated with a given copy of the DITA OT depends very highly on which version of the DITA OT is being used and the changes that have been made to it. In some cases making changes to the DITA OT might also require making changes to the files located in AuthorDITAXACssharedrenditions and making such changes is not documented nor supported, which means that I would suggest if anything is done to them that they only be done by our own Professional Services team (who would then be on the hook for supporting those changes according to any contracts signed).

The only thing we test this parameter against is a completely “standard” copy of the DITA OT located in a different folder on the same machine, meaning that if you take what we install in C:Program FilesCommon FilesXMetaL Shared and duplicate it exactly in a different location that parameter should work. Beyond that if there are issues then unfortunately that is far to complex to support (hopefully the complexities involved with testing this stuff is understandable).

I will see if I can find out if the combination of using DITA_OT_DIR with making modifications to the setting dita_ot_per_user_version has even been thought about.

That might take a while as I suspect nobody has tried this (certainly our QA people have not) and so I would probably need to run some tests myself.

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