#+title: BaseDirs #+author: tecosaur

#+html: #+html: #+html: #+html:

This package exists to help you put and look for files in the appropriate place(s).

It is essentially an implementation of the XDG (Cross-Desktop Group) directory specifications, with analogues for Windows and MacOS for cross-platform. More specifically, this is a hybrid of:

• The [[https://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html][XDG base directory]] and the [[https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/xdg-user-dirs/][XDG user directory]] specifications on Linux
• The [[https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd378457.aspx][Known Folder]] API on Windows
• The [[https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/FileManagement/Conceptual/FileSystemProgrammingGuide/FileSystemOverview/FileSystemOverview.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40010672-CH2-SW6][Standard Directories]] guidelines on MacOS

** Why should I care?

It may be easy to treat file paths haphazardly, but for the user in particular abiding by the standards/conventions of the their platform has a number of major benefits, such as:

• Improved ease of backups, since it is easier to make rules for which folders need to be backed up.
• Improved configuration portability, since it is easier to identify and share the relevant configuration files.
• Ease of isolating application state, by containing state to a single directory it is easy to avoid sharing it.
• Decreased reliance on hard-coded paths, improving flexibility and composability.

It is worth noting that these considerations apply to both graphical and command-line desktop applications.