zlacker

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1. forest+(OP)[view] [source] 2026-01-04 19:26:28
Does anyone know why, when Lennart and friends wrote their XDG Base Directory Specification, they decided that each user should replicate /usr/local/ subdirectories under $HOME/.local/?

Doesn't being under $HOME make .local redundant? I guess one could argue for binaries going in an architecture-specific subdirectory if $HOME was on a shared filesystem, but that's not what's being done here.

To me, $HOME/.local/share and its siblings are just a needless level of indirection, forcing me to jump through an extra hoop every time I want to access what's in there.

(I know it's sometimes possible to override it with an environment variable, but the predictably spotty support for those overrides means I would then have to look for things in two places. I think sensible defaults would be nicer.)

replies(3): >>datafl+61 >>hulitu+bg1 >>171862+FA1
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2. datafl+61[view] [source] 2026-01-04 19:31:57
>>forest+(OP)
Dunno the historical reason but I sure as heck find it nice to know without ambiguity that the folder called "share" corresponds to that special directory and isn't a random folder in my home directory for files that were intended to be e.g. shared with someone.
replies(1): >>forest+Dz
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3. forest+Dz[view] [source] [discussion] 2026-01-04 23:23:32
>>datafl+61
Sure, but I think the better choice for $HOME/.local/share would be $HOME/.share, not $HOME/share

This would match the more recent $HOME/.var that's in widespread use via Flatpak.

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4. hulitu+bg1[view] [source] 2026-01-05 07:16:26
>>forest+(OP)
> Does anyone know why, when Lennart and friends wrote their XDG Base Directory Specification,

It is Microsoft thing. You must pollute the user's /home as much as you can. Can i say that i have 3 daemons on my computer respobsible for ... credentials. This is the way to go.

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5. 171862+FA1[view] [source] 2026-01-05 10:58:33
>>forest+(OP)
The ~/.local prefix is so that you don't pollute the home directory too much.
replies(1): >>forest+tv3
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6. forest+tv3[view] [source] [discussion] 2026-01-05 20:49:47
>>171862+FA1
That doesn't align with their choice of $HOME/.cache (to which users need to navigate much less frequently than $HOME/.local/share), nor with how few items $HOME/.local typically saves from landing in $HOME, nor with the normally hidden state of everything starting with a dot.

So if that was their reasoning, it reinforces my view that they didn't think their design through very well.

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