I feel my explanations are generally clear, especially in light of the context I offered, and I don't want to keep repeating myself.
Sorry, Eric. I assume no one here wanted to steal your valuable time. But if you are seeking help, it’s sometimes helpful to help others first.
I was trying to indicate that to clarify the issues in the preceding comments would have been simply to repeat my previous explanation. The other contributor's comments were deeply rooted in particular assumptions that stood in stark contrast to the scenario I had described. I would not want the discussion to begin to follow a circular path.
The plan had been to prototype using a Bash script and query files, […]
That piece of information was helpful, for example. If you use the Bash, you will treat BaseX as a standalone application. You’ll definitely have more freedom if you use Java: For example, you can prevent BaseX from reading the configuration from disk [1]. See [2] for some more code examples.
Perhaps it has not been apparent to me which pieces would need further explanation. To me, "embedded" and "standalone" carry the same implication in the context of a database, and of course, I mentioned the former term more than a few times.
Yes, I think the suggestion was given previously for using DBPATH. I need to consider how easy it is to accept. It is a workaround, and gives me some hesitation about robustness and stability.
You've come to BaseX with a predetermined view of how you'll use it, so it's not surprising if you start out by fighting it.
I think it's a rather distorted interpretation.
You've brought up SQLite many times as an example of how you want BaseX to behave. The "embeddable" nature of SQLite is not a feature the developer decided to add to an existing project, but the very purpose of its existence. SQLite was designed by a US military contractor specifically to be included in applications on naval ships without requiring the installation of a MySQL or PostgreSQL server.
In contrast, BaseX uses a server/client architecture like MySQL and PostgreSQL
Right. SQLite, MySQL, and PostgreSQL are explicitly framed as having either a server-based or an embedded design. In contrast, BaseX actually supports both modes.
Broadly, however, it seems that BaseX carries a variety of behaviors from the server design into standalone invocations, limiting its general usefulness in embedded use cases. The application flow required for use without a server is already developed. The request I would suggest is simply adding a bit of additional flexibility to the finer features in order to solidify support for embedded cases.