XDG Base Directory support - ArchWiki

# XDG Base Directory support

Related articles

- dotfiles
- Xdg user directories

This article exists to catalog the growing set of software using the XDG Base Directory Specification introduced in 2003. This is here to demonstrate the viability of this specification by listing commonly found dotfiles and their support status. For those not currently supporting the Base Directory Specification, workarounds will be demonstrated to emulate it instead.

The workarounds will be limited to anything not involving patching the source, executing code stored in environment variables or compile-time options. The rationale for this is that configurations should be portable across systems and having compile-time options prevent that.

Hopefully this will provide a source of information about exactly what certain kinds of dotfiles are and where they come from.

## The XDG Base Directory specification

Please read the full specification. This section will attempt to break down the essence of what it tries to achieve.

Only `XDG_RUNTIME_DIR` is set by default through pam_systemd. It is up to the user to explicitly define the other variables, using absolute paths that point to existing directories; see FS#31204 and [1].

### User directories

- `XDG_CONFIG_HOME`
  - Where user-specific configurations should be written (analogous to `/etc`).
  - Should default to `$HOME/.config`.

- `XDG_CACHE_HOME`
  - Where user-specific non-essential (cached) data should be written (analogous to `/var/cache`).
  - Should default to `$HOME/.cache`.

- `XDG_DATA_HOME`
  - Where user-specific data files should be written (analogous to `/usr/share`).
  - Should default to `$HOME/.local/share`.

- `XDG_RUNTIME_DIR`
  - Used for non-essential, user-specific data files such as sockets, named pipes, etc.
  - Not required to have a default value; warnings should be issued if not set or equivalents provided.
  - Must be owned by the user with an access mode of `0700`.
  - Filesystem fully featured by standards of OS.
  - Must be on the local filesystem.
  - May be subject to periodic cleanup.
  - Modified every 6 hours or set sticky bit if persistence is desired.
  - Can only exist for the duration of the user's login.
  - Should not store large files as it may be mounted as a tmpfs.

### System directories

- `XDG_DATA_DIRS`
  - List of directories seperated by `:` (analogous to `PATH`).
  - Should default to `/usr/local/share:/usr/share`.

- `XDG_CONFIG_DIRS`
  - List of directories seperated by `:` (analogous to `PATH`).
  - Should default to `/etc/xdg`.

## Exceptions

These directories and files are unlikely to ever change, there is far too much historical baggage and most tools written expect these files and directories to exist in these locations.

While some of these tools are still in active development and maintainence, the developers are unwilling to accommodate for the necessary changes due to the aforementioned reasons.

`~/.ssh`
  Assumed to be present by many ssh daemons and clients such as DropBear and OpenSSH. OpenSSH Bug 2050

`~/.pki`
  Part of Mozilla's NSS Project.

`~/.netrc`
  Like `~/.ssh`, many programs expect this file to be here. These include projects like curl (`CURLOPT_NETRC_FILE`), ftp (`NETRC`), s-nail (`NETRC`), etc. While some of them offer alternative configurable locations, many do not such as w3m, wget and lftp.

`~/.profile`
  Used by the various shells and display managers, this file is expected to be here much like `~/.netrc`.

## Contributing

When contributing make sure to use the correct section.

Nothing should require code evaluation (such as vim and `VIMINIT`), patches or compile-time options to gain support and anything which does must be deemed hardcoded. Additionally if the process is too error prone or difficult, such as Haskell's cabal or eclipse, they should also be considered as hardcoded.

- The first column should be the project name, ideally the command name if it is not ambigious, linked to their website or an appropriate internal wiki article.

- The second column is for any legacy files and directories the project had, this is done so people can find them even if they are no longer read.

- In the third, try to find the commit or version a project switched to XDG Base Directory or any open discussions and include them in the next two columns.

- Finally the fourth should include any appropriate workarounds or solutions for unsupported projects. Be terse, this article assumes intelligence and good charity from the reader. If something is unclear then feel free to expend some explanation to clarify it.

Lastly, and this goes without saying, please verify that your solution is correct and functional.

## Supported

Application | Legacy Path | Supported Since | Discussion | Notes
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
antimicro | `~/.antimicro` | edba864 | [2] |
aria2 | `~/.aria2` | 8bc1d37 | [3] |
beets |  |  |
blender | `~/.blender` | 4293f473 | [4] |
burp |  | f2388e9 |  |
chromium | `~/.chromium` | 23057 | [5] [6] |
citra | `~/.citra-emu` | f7c3193fec | [7] |
cower |  | 8b70805 |  |
d-feet | `~/.d-feet` | 7f6104b |  |
dconf |  |  |  |
dolphin-emu | `~/.dolphin-emu` | a498c68 | [8] |
dunst |  | 78b6e2b1 | [9] |
dwb |  |  |  |
fish |  |  |  |
fontconfig | `~/.fontconfig` | 8c255fb1 |  |
fontforge | `~/.FontForge` `~/.PfaEdit` | e4c2cc7432 | [10] [11] |
fontconfig | `~/.fonts` |  |  | Use `"$XDG_DATA_HOME"/fonts` instead.
freerdp | `~/.freerdp` | edf6e7258d |  |
gconf | `~/.gconf` | fc28caa7 | [12] |
git | `~/.gitconfig` | 0d94427e |  |
gstreamer-1.0 |  | 4e36f93924cf | [13] |
gtk3 |  |  |  |
htop | `~/.htoprc` | 93233a67 |  |
i3 | `~/.i3` | 7c130fb54 |  |
i3status | `~/.i3status.conf` | c3f7fc4994 |  |
imagemagick |  |  |  |
inkscape | `~/.inkscape` | 0.47 | [14] |
lftp | `~/.lftp` | 21dc400 | [15] |
lgogdownloader | `~/.gogdownloader` | d430af63d000 | [16] |
LibreOffice |  | a6f56f70 25bd2eec | [17] |
livestreamer | `~/.livestreamerrc` | ea805917 | [18] |
llpp |  | 3ab86f0cb |  | Currently llpp places the configuration directly under `XDG_CONFIG_HOME` instead of creating a directory.
mc | `~/.mc` | 1b9957058 0b7115647 ce401d797 | [19] |
mintty | `~/.minttyrc` | cff1bd8f v2.3.7. | [20]
milkytracker | `~/.milkytracker_config` | eb487c55 | [21] |
mpd | `~/.mpdconf` | 87b73284 |  |
mpv | `~/.mpv` | cb250d490 | [22] |
mypaint | `~/.mypaint` | cf723b74cd |  |
ncmpcpp | `~/.ncmpcpp` | 38d9f811 27cd86e0 | [23] [24] | `ncmpcpp_directory` should be set to avoid an `error.log` file in `~/.ncmpcpp`.
neovim | `~/.nvim` `~/.nvimlog` `~/.nviminfo` | 1ca5646bb | [25] [26] |
newsbeuter | `~/.newsbeuter` | 3c57824c5 | [27] | It is required to create both `"$XDG_DATA_HOME"/newsbeuter` and `"$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/newsbeuter` [28]
OfflineIMAP | `~/.offlineimaprc` | 5150de5 | [29] |
opentyrian | `~/.opentyrian` | 8d45ff2 | [30] |
pcsx2 | `~/.pcsx2` | 87f1e8f77 a9020c606 3b22f0fb0 0a012aec2 | [31] [32] |
ppsspp | `~/.ppsspp` | 132fe47c7d | [33] |
orbment |  |  |  |
pacman | `~/.makepkg.conf` | 80eca94c8 | [34] |
PulseAudio | `~/.pulse` `~/.pulse-cookie` | 59a8618dcd9 87ae8307057 9ab510a6921 4c195bcc9d5 | [35] |
pyroom |  |  |  |
qutebrowser |  |  |  |
qtile |  | fd8686e 66d704b 51cff01 | [36] | Some optional bar widgets can create files and directories in non-compliant paths, but most often these are still configurable.
retroarch |  |  |  |
rr | `~/.rr` | 02e7d41e | [37] |
surfraw | `~/.surfraw.conf` `~/.surfraw.bookmarks` | 3e4591d8 bd8c427d f57fc718 |  |
sway | `~/.sway/config` | 614393c09 | [38] |
systemd |  |  |  |
termite |  |  |  |
transmission | `~/.transmission` | 5517 | [39] |
util-linux |  | 570b32100 |  |
vimb |  |  |  |
VLC media player | `~/.vlcrc` | 16f32e15 | [40] |
wireshark | `~/.wireshark` | b0b53fa5 |  |
xsettingsd | `~/.xsettingsd` | 4ecd7be |  |
warsow | `~/.warsow-2.x` | 98ece3f | [41] |
uzbl |  | [42] | c6fd63a |

## Partial

Application | Legacy Path | Supported Since | Discussion | Notes
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
abook | `~/.abook` |  |  | `$ abook --config "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/abook/abookrc \ --datafile "$XDG_CACHE_HOME"/abook/addressbook`
Atom | `~/.atom` |  |  | `$ export ATOM_HOME="$XDG_DATA_HOME"/atom`
aspell | `~/.aspell.conf` |  |  |
cargo | `~/.cargo` |  | [43] [44] | `$ export CARGO_HOME="$XDG_DATA_HOME"/cargo`
ccache | `~/.ccache` |  |  | `$ export CCACHE_DIR="$XDG_CACHE_HOME"/ccache`
conky | `~/.conkyrc` | 00481ee | [45] | `$ conky --config="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/conky/conkyrc`
crawl | `~/.crawl` |  |  | `$ export CRAWL_DIR="$XDG_DATA_HOME"/crawl/ # Trailing '/' is required.`
composer | `~/.composer` |  |  | `$ export COMPOSER_HOME="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/composer $ export COMPOSER_CACHE_DIR="$XDG_CACHE_HOME"/composer`
coreutils | `~/.dircolors` |  |  | `$ source "$(dircolors "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/dircolors)"`
dict | `~/.dictrc` |  |  | `$ dict -c "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/dict/dictrc`
ELinks | `~/.elinks` |  |  | `$ export ELINKS_CONFDIR="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/elinks`
emscripten | `~/.emscripten` `~/.emscripten_sanity` `~/.emscripten_ports` `~/.emscripten_cache__last_clear` |  | 3624 | `$ export EM_CONFIG="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/emscripten/config` `$ export EM_CACHE="$XDG_CACHE_HOME"/emscripten/cache` `$ export EM_PORTS="$XDG_DATA_HOME"/emscripten/cache` `$ emcc --em-config "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/emscripten/config --em-cache "$XDG_CACHE_HOME"/emscripten/cache`
PulseAudio | `~/.esd_auth` |  |  | Very likely generated by the `module-esound-protocol-unix.so` module. It can be configured to use a different location but it makes much more sense to just comment out this module in `/etc/pulse/default.pa` or `"$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/pulse/default.pa`.
gdb | `~/.gdbinit` |  |  | `$ gdb -nh -x "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/gdb/init`
GIMP | `~/.gimp-2.8` | 60e0cfe | [46] [47] | `$ export GIMP2_DIRECTORY="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/gimp`
gliv | `~/.glivrc` |  |  | `$ gliv --glivrc="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/gliv/glivrc`
gpg | `~/.gnupg` |  |  | `$ export GNUPGHOME="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/gnupg` `$ gpg2 --homedir "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/gnupg`
gtk2 | `~/.gtkrc-2.0` |  |  | `$ export GTK2_RC_FILES="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/gtk-2.0/gtkrc`
gtk | `~/.gtkrc` |  |  | `$ export GTK_RC_FILES="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/gtk-1.0/gtkrc`
httpie | `~/.httpie` |  | [48] | `$ export HTTPIE_CONFIG_DIR="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/httpie`
ipython/jupyter | `~/.ipython` |  |  | `$ export IPYTHONDIR="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/jupyter` `$ export JUPYTER_CONFIG_DIR="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/jupyter`
isync | `~/.mbsyncrc` |  |  | `$ mbsync -c "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/isync/mbsyncrc`
libice | `~/.ICEauthority` |  |  | `$ export ICEAUTHORITY="$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR"/X11/iceauthority`
less | `~/.lesshst` |  |  | `$ export LESSHISTFILE="$XDG_CACHE_HOME"/less/history` (It is required to create the `"$XDG_CACHE_HOME"/less` directory manually.) `$ export LESSHISTFILE=-` can be used to disable this feature. `$ export LESSKEY="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/less/lesskey`
libdvdcss | `~/.dvdcss` |  | [49] | `$ export DVDCSS_CACHE="$XDG_DATA_HOME"/dvdcss`
ltrace | `~/.ltrace.conf` |  |  | `$ ltrace -F "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/ltrace/ltrace.conf`
Mathematica | `~/.Mathematica` |  |  | `$ export MATHEMATICA_USERBASE="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/mathematica`
mednafen | `~/.mednafen` |  |  | `$ export MEDNAFEN_HOME="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/mednafen`
moc | `~/.moc` |  |  | `$ mocp -M "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/moc` `$ mocp -O MOCDir="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/moc`
MPlayer | `~/.mplayer` |  |  | `$ export MPLAYER_HOME="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/mplayer`
mutt | `~/.mutt` |  | [50] | `$ mutt -F "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/mutt/muttrc`
    muttrc
    set header_cache = $XDG_CACHE_HOME/mutt/headers
    set message_cachedir = $XDG_DATA_HOME/mutt/messages
    set mailcap_path = $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mutt/mailcap
    set record = $XDG_DATA_HOME/mutt/record/sent
notmuch | `~/.notmuch-config` |  | [51] | `$ export NOTMUCH_CONFIG="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/notmuch/notmuchrc` `$ export NMBGIT="$XDG_DATA_HOME"/notmuch/nmbug`
ncurses | `~/.terminfo` |  |  | `$ export TERMINFO="$XDG_DATA_HOME"/terminfo # Precludes system path searching.` `$ export TERMINFO_DIRS="$XDG_DATA_HOME"/terminfo:/usr/share/terminfo`
npm | `~/.npm` `~/.npmrc` |  | [52] | `$ export NPM_CONFIG_USERCONFIG=$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/npm/npmrc`
    npmrc
    cache=$XDG_CACHE_HOME/npm
    prefix=$XDG_DATA_HOME/npm
NVIDIA, CUDA | `~/.nv` |  |  | `$ export __GL_SHADER_DISK_CACHE_PATH="$XDG_CACHE_HOME"/nv` `$ export CUDA_CACHE_PATH="$XDG_CACHE_HOME"/nv`
openscad | `~/.OpenSCAD` | 7c3077b0f | [53] | Does not fully honour XDG Base Directory Specification, see [54] Currently it hard-codes `~/.local/share`.
python-setuptools | `~/.python-eggs` |  |  | `$ export PYTHON_EGG_CACHE="$XDG_CACHE_HOME"/python-eggs`
readline | `~/.inputrc` |  |  | `$ export INPUTRC="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/readline/inputrc`
rlwrap | `~/.*_history` |  | [55] | `$ export RLWRAP_HOME="$XDG_DATA_HOME"/rlwrap`
screen | `~/.screenrc` |  |  | `$ export SCREENRC="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/screen/screenrc`
stack | `~/.stack` |  | [56] | `$ export STACK_ROOT="$XDG_DATA_HOME"/stack`
subversion | `~/.subversion` |  | [57][58] | `$ svn --config-dir "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/subversion`
tig | `~/.tigrc` |  |  | `$ export TIGRC_USER="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/tig/tigrc`
tmux | `~/.tmux.conf` |  | [59] [60] | `$ tmux -f "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/tmux/tmux.conf` `$ export TMUX_TMPDIR="$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR"/tmux`
urxvtd | `~/.urxvt/urxvtd-hostname` |  |  | `$ export RXVT_SOCKET="$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR"/urxvt/urxvt-"$(hostname)"`
WeeChat | `~/.weechat` |  | [61] | `$ export WEECHAT_HOME="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/weechat` `$ weechat -d "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/weechat`
wine | `~/.wine` |  | [62] | `$ export WINEPREFIX="$XDG_DATA_HOME"/wine`
xorg-xauth | `~/.Xauthority` |  |  | `$ export XAUTHORITY="$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR"/X11/xauthority`
libx11 | `~/.XCompose` |  |  | `$ export XCOMPOSEFILE="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/X11/xcompose`
xorg-xinit | `~/.xinitrc` |  |  | `$ export XINITRC="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/X11/xinitrc`
xorg-xrdb | `~/.Xresources` `~/.Xdefaults` |  |  | Ultimately you should be using `Xresources` and since these resources are loaded via `xrdb` you can specify a path such as `xrdb -load ~/.config/X11/xresources`.
uncrustify | `~/.uncrustify.cfg` |  |  | `$ export UNCRUSTIFY_CONFIG="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/uncrustify/uncrustify.cfg`
xsel | `~/.xsel.log` |  | [63] | `$ xsel --logfile "$XDG_CACHE_HOME"/xsel/xsel.log`
ChezScheme | `~/.chezscheme_history` |  |  | `$ petite --eehistory "$XDG_DATA_HOME"/chezscheme/history`
nvidia-settings | `~/.nvidia-settings-rc` |  |  | `$ nvidia-settings --config="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/nvidia/settings`

## Hardcoded

Application | Legacy Path | Supported Since | Discussion | Notes
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Apache Directory Studio | `~/.ApacheDirectoryStudio` |  |  |
AMule | `~/.aMule` |  |  |
bash | `~/.bashrc` `~/.bash_history` `~/.bash_profile` `~/.bash_login` `~/.bash_logout` |  | [64] | A specified `bashrc` can be sourced from `/etc/bashrc` `export HISTFILE="$XDG_DATA_HOME"/bash/history`
cabal | `~/.cabal` |  | [65] | See discussion for potential workarounds. It is not very easy or straightforward but may be possible to emulate Base Directory compliance.
CUPS | `~/.cups` |  | [66] |
dbus | `~/.dbus` |  | [67] | This should be avoidable with kdbus [citation needed].
eclipse | `~/.eclipse` |  | [68] | Option `-Dosgi.configuration.area=@user.home/.config/..` overrides but must be added to `"$ECLIPSE_HOME"/eclipse.ini"` rather than command line which means you must have write access to `$ECLIPSE_HOME`. (Arch Linux hard-codes `$ECLIPSE_HOME` in `/usr/bin/eclipse`)
emacs | `~/.emacs` `~/.emacs.d` |  | [69] | It's possible to set `HOME`, but it has unexpected side effects. So far the most promising approach is modifying another Emacs environment variable to alter the load path and author your own site file which can manually load up your init file, but it changes the load process significantly.
firefox | `~/.mozilla` |  | [70] |
GNU parallel | `~/.parallel` |  |  |
gstreamer-0.10 | `~/.gstreamer-0.10` |  |  | Use gstreamer-1.0 instead.
idris | `~/.idris` |  |  |
julia | `~/.juliarc.jl` `~/.julia_history` |  | [71] [72] |
lldb | `~/.lldb` `~/.lldbinit` |  |  |
mathomatic | `~/.mathomaticrc` `~/.matho_history` |  |  | History can be moved by using `rlwrap mathomatic -r` with the `RLWRAP_HOME` environment set appropriately.
milkytracker | `~/.milkytracker_config` |  | [73] |
mongodb | `~/.mongorc.js` `~/.dbshell` |  | [74] | This Stack Overflow thread suggests a partial workaround using command-line switch `--norc`.
ncmpc | `~/.ncmpc` |  |  |
palemoon | `~/.moonchild productions` |  | [75] |
perf | `~/.debug` |  |  | Hardcoded in tools/perf/util/config.c:18.
python | `~/.python_history` |  |  | All history from interactive sessions is saved to `~/.python_history` by default since version 3.4, custom path can still be set the same way as in older versions (see this example).
procps-ng | `~/.toprc` |  | [76] |
spectrwm | `~/.spectrwm` |  |  |
SQLite | `~/.sqlite_history` |  |  |
vim | `~/.vim` `~/.vimrc` `~/.viminfo` |  |  | Since 7.3.1178 vim will search for `~/.vim/vimrc` if `~/.vimrc` is not found.
    ~/.vim/vimrc
    set undodir=~/.cache/vim/undo " vim will not create this directory.
    set directory=~/.cache/vim/swap " vim will not create this directory.
    set backupdir=~/.cache/vim/backup " vim will not create this directory.
    set viminfo+=n~/.cache/vim/viminfo
https://tlvince.com/vim-respect-xdg
vimperator | `~/.vimperatorrc` |  | [77] | `$ export VIMPERATOR_INIT=":source $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vimperator/vimperatorrc"` `$ export VIMPERATOR_RUNTIME="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/vimperator`
wpa_cli | `~/.wpa_cli_history` |  |  |
xdg-utils | `~/.gnome` |  |  | For some reason the script `xdg-desktop-menu` hard-codes `gnome_user_dir="$HOME/.gnome/apps"`. This is used by chromium amoung others.
xmonad | `~/.xmonad` |  | [78] |
xombrero | `~/.xombrero` |  | [79] |
zsh | `~/.zshrc` `~/.zprofile` `~/.zshenv` `~/.zlogin` `~/.zlogout` `~/.histfile` |  | [80] | Consider exporting `ZDOTDIR=$HOME/.config/zsh` in `~/.zshenv` (this is hardcoded due to the bootstrap problem). You could also add this to `/etc/zsh/zshenv` and avoid the need for any dotfiles in your `HOME`. Doing this however requires root privilege which may not be viable and is system-wide. `export HISTFILE="$XDG_DATA_HOME"/zsh/history`
racket | `~/.racketrc` |  |  |

## Library and language support

C
  C99: Cloudef's simple implementation.

Haskell
  Officially in directory since 1.2.3.0 ab9d0810ce.
  xdg-basedir

Perl
  File-BaseDir
  perl-file-xdg

Python
  pyxdg

Vala
  Builtin support via GLib.Environment.
  See `get_user_cache_dir`, `get_user_data_dir`, `get_user_config_dir`, etc.

## See also

- Rob Pike: "Dotfiles" being hidden is a UNIXv2 mistake.
- systemd-path(1)
- file-hierarchy(7)
- Grawity's notes on dotfiles.
- Grawity's notes on environment variables.
- ploum.net: Modify Your Application to use XDG Folders.

Category:

- Dotfiles