PROJECT
XDG
Base Directory Standard
What is this all about?
The XDG Base Directory Standard provides a common means for specifying one or more base directories relative to which support files can be located. Using the XDG standard, applications can find and store application specific support files (eg. config files, data caches, etc.) in a universal, clean and robust fashion. The advantages of this standard is that all such files will be found in central locations easily descernable by man and machine. And, if widely adopted, XDG can clear up our HOME directories of all those pesky hidden files!
See XDG Base Directory Standard Specification.
Who's using the XDG Standard?
Why should I use the XDG standard?
Because if you don't then... you suck! ;-)
No, seriously, if your program depends on user-relative or sytem-wide support
files, it will be much improved by using the XDG Base Directory Standard. Not
only does it provide a clean yet flexible standard, it also make your
life easier. The find and select methods make it a
snap to locate support files.
What can XDG standard ultimately do?
How about turning this:
$ ls -a ~/
.ICEauthority .gconf .qt
.Xauthority .gconfd .rdoc Documents
.Xsession .gem .recently-used Download
.adobe .gftp .recently-used.xbel EMail
.aptitude .gimp-2.4 .ri Friends
.aspell.en.prepl .gitconfig .ruby_inline Jobs
.aspell.en.pws .gksu.lock .rubyrc Mail
.bash_history .gnome .sane Manifest.txt
.bash_logout .gnome2 .shoes Media
.bashrc .gnome2_private .ssh Memento
.bogofilter .gnupg .subversion Music
.cache .gstreamer-0.10 .themes Notebook
.camel_certs .gtk-bookmarks .thumbnails Personal
.compiz .gtk-recordmydesktop .tremulous Photos
.config .gtkrc-1.2-gnome2 .update-manager-core Pics
.dbus .gvfs .update-notifier Pictures
.dbus-keyrings .icons .vim PonyArchive
.dia .irb_history .viminfo Public
.diakonos .irbrc .vimrc Sort
.dmrc .local .vlc Templates
.dvdcss .macromedia .w3m Videos
.dvdrip .metacity .wapi current
.dvdrip-master .mozilla .xine dvdrip-data
.dvdriprc .mplayer .xinitrc links.xml
.eee .mysql_history .xsession-errors programs
.esd_auth .nautilus Archive projects
.etc .openoffice.org2 Art ruby
.evolution .pgadmin3 Bookmarks sandbox
.fastri-index .pgpass Books tags
.fehbg .profile Company tigerops
.fehrc .pulse Contacts
.fontconfig .pulse-cookie Desktop
.fr-KVIe0s .purple Diff.txt
Into this:
$ ls -a ~/
.cache Diff.txt Music Videos
.config Documents Notebook current
.local Download Personal dvdrip-data
Archive EMail Photos links.xml
Art Friends Pics programs
Bookmarks Jobs Pictures projects
Books Mail PonyArchive ruby
Company Manifest.txt Public sandbox
Contacts Media Sort tags
Desktop Memento Templates tigerops
How to Install the XDG Ruby Library
Using RubyGems
$ sudo gem install xdg
Using RubyRolls
$ sudo roll install xdg
Site Installation (Using the tarball)
Installing the tarball requires Ruby Setup (see http://setup.rubyforge.org).
$ tar -xvzf xdg-0.4.0
$ cd xdg-0.4.0
$ sudo setup.rb all
Windows users will have to use 'ruby' in place of 'sudo'.
How to Use the XDG Ruby Library
It's really quite easy, since these are all the methods:
XDG.config_home
XDG.config_dirs
XDG.config_find(pattern){ |path| ... }
XDG.config_select(pattern){ |path| ... }
XDG.data_home
XDG.data_dirs
XDG.data_find(pattern){ |path| ... }
XDG.data_select(pattern){ |path| ... }
XDG.cache_home
XDG.cache_find(pattern){ |path| ... }
XDG.cache_select(pattern){ |path| ... }
XDG.config_work
XDG.cache_work
You can also include XDG into a class and you will get all these methods as well.
class X
include XDG
end
x = X.new
x.config_home