Make location of files directory configurable

If this was a support request, which it very nearly is, the answer would be:

D7: change stream_wrappers.inc

class DrupalPublicStreamWrapper extends DrupalLocalStreamWrapper {
  /**
   * Implements abstract public function getDirectoryPath()
   */
  public function getDirectoryPath() {
    return variable_get('file_public_path', conf_path() . '/files');
  }

change conf_path() .'/files' to whatever you want.

D6: change file.inc

function file_directory_path() {
  return variable_get('file_directory_path', conf_path() .'/files');
}

change conf_path() .'/files' to whatever you want

I am marking this as a feature request, so file subsystem maintainers can consider whether this variable ought to be exposed in the interface. For my money, it's not worth it, but I don't know how common josheeg's use case is.

Thought that seemed too complicated... I forgot: admin/config/media/file-system

The instructions are in INSTALL.txt http://api.drupal.org/api/drupal/INSTALL.txt/7