# XDG Base Spec - is this the FreeBSD way? or more linux?



## yvonney (Apr 13, 2010)

UZBL browser and a ton of others use XDG Base Directory Specification which by default I believe put configs etc. in the .config folder.

I run a super minimalistic xmonad mainly cli system and am slowly getting to be able to become a freeBSD'er.

I may have missed more than I realize though it seems that it's GUI apps that use XDG base directory spec.  UZBL does which is what I'd call a minimalist webkit base browser though yeah, it's got a GUI obviously.

So, if FreeBSD big on XDG base spec?  open desktop is mostly about X11 right?
So If I'm running X on FreeBSD I should be MORE than ok to go with setting things to point to XDG directory?

thanks!!!! kind of a big one this is. Any info solid facts/ideas really appreciated. Actually anything's great!


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## fronclynne (Apr 13, 2010)

FreeBSD seems to pretty much not make a big fuss about what 3rd party apps want to do under /usr/local/[share/], nor I think does the whole $HOME/.config/ conflict with known standards (hier(7) doesn't even mention user home directories (neither /home/ nor /usr/home/)).  xfce4 seems to use $HOME/.config/stuff, as does (of things I actually use) x11-wm/wmfs.  It's annoying at first, but no more so than the $HOME/.app_name/ clutter.


The /etc/xdg/blah/bark/quack looks like a really rotten idea, sort of like all that Gentoo/Debian/SysV/WhateverOS /etc/conf.d/insane/400/deep/file/tree/goes/here bad craziness.  But I'm one of those nutters who thinks that /etc/ should be not to far from flat (/etc/periodic/ has a point.  Not a terribly good one, but at least it has one) and all that XDG /etc/ fluffle should be stuft in /usr/local/etc/, truncated, and then thrown to the wolves.


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## yvonney (Apr 13, 2010)

my reaction pretty much as well. Though as I'll be running an ARCH install for the forseeable future along with my FreeBSD studies I'm always looking to avoid anything that's not going to be best practices in BSD if at all possible.

So, more and more I see that in my HOME folder (not /etc) there's stuff going into .config and with my interest in UZBL and seeing many of the gurus redoing their dotfiles more and more to reside in .config (or whatever XDG bas path they use)  wel, I've been going ....hmmmm.... better find out for sure wat's up on the BSD from with XDG_BASE  etc.

So, um... maybe there is something in /etc or if I read your interesting write again i'd sus that it's more or different from simply mentioning /etc as something to do with XDG...

Hey, let me now get confused a bit! Seems to always preceed some great eventual flash of understanding!  

appreciated. and interested in whatever may appear in this thread on 
XDG base spec and FreeBSD's usage of it. Guess XDG is GPL?


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## fronclynne (Apr 16, 2010)

I was looking at this: http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html when I wrote my response, and I think it's a crazy attempt to reign in some truly bad practices that have taken root in the linux/unix/bsd desktop world, but if it's just another "standard" to dump into the witches brew that already exists it's not only doomed to fail, but doomed to create one more layer of confusion to linger for a decade giving designers more headaches.

This is the part that I find frightening beyond comprehension:  "If $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS is either not set or empty, a value equal to /etc/xdg should be used."  The thought of some crufty install involving hundreds of modular packages to run one freakin' piece of web-browser (I am glaring at you, konqueror) unexpectedly bloating up my /etc/ like a dead whale being used as a zepplin is exactly the sort of design creteria[sic] that makes me want to force all of these lumpenproles into jackets with the arms sewn back and text-based browsers forever.  Bah!


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## yvonney (Apr 16, 2010)

awesome intensity! Yeah, I get very bugged about adding layers to layers.
So, hmmm... lots to think about. I'm down to my needed dozen or so cli things, plus about 20 cli utils, the odd util or other with a bare gtk theme/iface, and stuff like openoffice running WITHOUT any java. I just installed it them copied the folder, found the bin and it does pretty much everything. Shakes a bit though I like that. um, more obviously. I could go on here. So, the XDG thing just feels clumsy.


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