.dotfiles.notes

Notes on moving various dotfiles
================================

A better list is at <https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/XDG_Base_Directory>.

Please also read <.environ.notes> if you find this file useful.


XDG Basedir-compliant
---------------------

Already migrated to XDG in a release:

~/.AndroidStudio4.0	~/.config/Google/AndroidStudio2021.3/
~/.audacity-data/	[various]/audacity/		3.2.0?
~/.curlrc		~/.config/.curlrc		7.73 (4be1f8dc0)
~/.d-feet/		~/.config/d-feet/		0.1.15 (7f6104bbc5ab)
~/.darcs/		[various]/darcs/		2.10
~/.elinks/		~/.config/elinks/		0.17
~/.freerdp/		~/.config/freerdp/		1.1.0 (edf6e7258d0e)
~/.gconf/		~/.config/gconf/		3.2.6 (fc28caa7be86)
~/.gconf.path		~/.config/gconf.path		3.2.6 (fc28caa7be86)
~/.gdb[early]init	~/.config/gdb/gdb[early]init
~/.gimp-2.8/		~/.config/GIMP/2.10/		2.10
~/.git-credentials	~/.config/git/credentials	2.5.0 (17c7f4d8e4)
~/.gitconfig		~/.config/git/config		1.7.12 (0d94427ef844)
~/.gitignore		~/.config/git/ignore		1.7.12 (0d94427ef844)
~/.gitk			~/.config/git/gitk		1.9-rc1 (8f86339858c1)
~/.gnucash/		~/.config/gnucash/		3.0
~/.gnuplot		~/.config/gnuplot/gnuplotrc	6.0
~/.gnuplot_history	~/.local/state/gnuplot_history	6.0
~/.hgrc			~/.config/hg/hgrc		4.2 (354020079723)
~/.irbrc		~/.config/irb/irbrc
~/.keybase/		[various]/keybase/		0.6.0 (99531f058b3b57)
~/.lesshst		~/.local/state/lesshst		608
~/.lesshst		~/.local/share/lesshst [note]	582
~/.lesskey		~/.config/lesskey		582
~/.lftp/		~/.config/lftp/
~/.lftprc		~/.config/lftp/rc
~/.makepkg.conf		~/.config/pacman/makepkg.conf	4.2.0
~/.mpdconf		~/.config/mpd/mpd.conf		0.18
~/.mpoprc		~/.config/mpop/config		1.2.7 (c70f9da)
~/.mpv/			~/.config/mpv/			??? (cb250d)
~/.muttrc		~/.config/mutt/muttrc		mutt 1.8? (b17cd6731291)
~/.muttrc		~/.config/neomutt/config	neomutt ??? (239c0e93f8be)
~/.msmtprc		~/.config/msmtp/config		1.6.3 (af2f409)
~/.ncmpcpp/		~/.config/ncmpcpp/
~/.offlineimaprc	~/.config/offlineimap/config	6.5.6 (5150de5514d1)
~/.oidentd.conf		~/.config/oidentd.conf		post-2.3.2 (8a6e9654889)
~/.pki/nssdb/		~/.local/share/pki/nssdb/	nss 3.42 (7f21d4f49)
~/.pulse/		~/.config/pulse/		3.0 (9ab510a69216)
~/.pulse-cookie		~/.config/pulse/cookie		3.0, 6.0 (59a8618dcd91)
~/.putty/		~/.config/putty/		0.64 (9952b2d5bd5)
~/.quodlibet/		~/.config/quodlibet/		3.10.0 (4e9545b2fa0eff6)
~/.rclone.conf		~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf
~/.tigrc		~/.config/tig/config[note]	2.1.1 (1e6da9d)
~/.tmux.conf		~/.config/tmux/tmux.conf	3.1 (3.0a-152-g15d7e564)
~/.vimrc		~/.config/vim/vimrc		Vim 9.1.0327
~/.vimrc		~/.config/nvim/init.vim		Neovim
~/.VirtualBox/		~/.local/share/VirtualBox/
~/.weechat/		[various]/weechat/		3.2
~/.wireshark/		~/.config/wireshark/		1.12


Migrated to XDG in devel:

~/.purple/		~/.config/purple/		3.0


Notes:

~/.lesshst
	If XDG_DATA_HOME isn't explicitly set, there is no fallback to the
	default ~/.local/share/, but only to the legacy ~/.lesshst path.
	(However, fallback *is* implemented for XDG_STATE_HOME to
	~/.local/state/.)

~/.lesskey
	Unlike ~/.lesshst, this path does fallback to ~/.config/ if
	XDG_CONFIG_HOME was not found in environment.

~/.tigrc
	Instead of a standalone tigrc, configuration can be embedded in the Git
	config file via [tig ...] sections.


Environment variable
--------------------

These paths can be overridden using an environment variable. (CLI options might
be included if available in addition to environment.)

Items marked "(xdg)" are already compliant in the current version, and included
only for reference.

~/.atom/		$ATOM_HOME
~/.cabal/config		$CABAL_CONFIG
~/.crawl/		$CRAWL_DIR (must end with "/")
~/.crawlrc		$CRAWL_RC, or move to $CRAWL_DIR/init.txt
~/.curlrc		(xdg) $CURL_HOME
~/.cvspass		$CVS_PASSFILE
~/.dvdcss/		$DVDCSS_CACHE
~/.e16/			$ECONFDIR, -P, --econfdir, see /usr/share/doc/e16/e16.html
~/.elinks/		(xdg) $ELINKS_CONFDIR
~/.gale/		$GALE_DIR
~/.gemrc		$GEMRC (colon-separated list, acts as additional rc)
~/.gnupg/		$GNUPGHOME, --home
~/.gramps/		$GRAMPSHOME
~/.gtkrc		$GTK_RC_FILES (colon-separated list)
~/.gtkrc-2.0		$GTK2_RC_FILES (colon-separated list)
~/.httpie/		$HTTPIE_CONFIG_DIR
~/.ICEauthority		$ICEAUTHORITY
~/.irbrc		$IRBRC
~/.ipfs/		$IPFS_PATH
~/.ldaprc		$LDAPCONF, $LDAP<opt>, see ldap.conf(5)
~/.lesshst		(xdg) $LESSHISTFILE
~/.mtoolsrc		$MTOOLSRC (acts as additional rc)
~/.mysql_history	$MYSQL_HISTFILE
~/.pip/pip.conf		$PIP_CONFIG_FILE, $PIP_<opt>
~/.pip/pip.log		$PIP_LOG_FILE, [global] log_file =
~/.screenrc		$SCREENRC
~/.sqlite_history	$SQLITE_HISTORY
~/.tpm2_pkcs11/		$TPM2_PKCS11_STORE
~/.tkabber		$TKABBER_HOME
~/.unison/		$UNISON
~/.VirtualBox/		(xdg) $VBOX_USER_HOME
~/.weechat/		(xdg) $WEECHAT_HOME, -d, --dir
~/.wgetrc		$WGETRC


Can be overridden indirectly via config:

~/.cabal/*
	Defined via various settings in $CABAL_CONFIG

~/.exodusviewer/
	$EXODUSVIEWER_USER_DIR overrides, but see ~/.secondlife/

~/.firestorm/
	$FIRESTORM_USER_DIR overrides, but see ~/.secondlife/

~/.gdb_history
	$GDBHISTFILE or 'set history filename <path>' in gdbinit:

	set history save on
	set history filename ~/.local/state/gdb/history

~/.gvimrc
	Same as ~/.vimrc, but with $GVIMINIT.

~/.lynx_cookies
	Defined via 'cookie_file' in ~/.lynxrc

~/.pip/pip.log
	Location can be defined via pip.conf (see ~/.pip/pip.conf), but this
	does not support tilde expansion for $HOME:

	[global]
	log_file = /home/foo/bar

	http://pip.readthedocs.org/en/latest/user_guide.html#environment-variables

~/.secondlife/
	$SECONDLIFE_USER_DIR overrides this in general, but you will need to
	manually adjust the "chat log location" option.

~/.vimrc
	Vim 9.1.0327 adds XDG compliance (see table). Before that, recent Vim
	versions use ~/.vim/vimrc by default. For even older versions, $VIMINIT
	can have an Ex command that sources an additional rc:

		export VIMINIT=":so ~/.vim/vimrc"

	(Note: This only applies to original Vim -- the Neovim fork is already
	XDG-compliant and uses ~/.config/nvim/init.vim instead.)

~/VirtualBox VMs/
	Location defined by main VirtualBox configuration (see ~/.VirtualBox/),
	can be set via GUI or `VBoxManage setproperty machinefolder <path>`


Command-line override
---------------------

These support neither XDG Basedir nor custom environment variables, but can be
run through an alias or wrapper script with a specific command line option.

~/.claws-mail/		--alternate-config-dir
~/.irssi/		--home=
~/.pinerc		-p
~/.stalonetrayrc	-c, --config
~/.ttytterrc		-rc=
~/.vidalia/		-datadir
~/.wget-hsts		--hsts-file=
~/.xbindkeysrc		-f, --file
~/.xbindkeysrc.scm	-fg, --file-guile
~/.xinitrc		startx <path>
~/.xchat2/		-d, --cfgdir=
~/.xsel.log		-l, --logfile


Notes:

~/.digrc
	No option to load a different config, but everything that can be put in
	.digrc can be directly specified via command-line options anyway.

~/.pinerc
	Windows gets both $PINERC and $PINECONF, but Unix gets neither.

The Java hack
-------------

For various Java programs that litter the home directory, the answer is "change
the home directory". I have a wrapper script that basically runs:

	java -Duser.home="$XDG_DATA_HOME/Java"

Don't forget to symlink ~/.java into the redirect directory.

~/.ApacheDirectoryStudio/
~/.java/
~/.swt/
~/Ubiquiti-Networks/


Hardcoded
---------

Sad.

~/.aMule/
~/.balsa/
~/.bashrc		Passing options to shells is difficult
~/.bash_logout
~/.bash_profile		Use ~/.profile
~/.cargo/
~/.cmake/		Supports Windows and Haiku paths but not XDG
~/.dc++/
~/.esd_auth		Obsolete, uninstall the PulseAudio module
~/.fossil
~/.gens/		Hardcoded in both Gens and Gens-gs
~/.gnome-commander/	Command-line option doesn't work
~/.gnome2/		Obsolete, safe to rm
~/.gnome2_private/	Obsolete, safe to rm
~/.gstreamer-0.10/	Obsolete, safe to rm (Gst1.0 is XDG)
~/.hatari/
~/.pine-debug[0-9]
~/.renpy/
~/.sqldeveloper/	Launcher ignores even the java-hack.
~/.subversion/
~/.w3m/


Some paths have become API and are expected to be there by various programs:

~/.dbus/		part of D-Bus spec, but optional - see note
~/.netrc		curl, many other apps, Perl/Python modules expect it here
~/.profile		sh, bash, various display managers expect it here
~/.xprofile		various display managers (Xsession scripts) expect it here
~/.ssh/			libssh2, other programs will parse config & known_hosts


Notes:

~/.dbus/
	The path ~/.dbus/session-bus/$MACHINE_ID-$DISPLAY is part of the D-Bus
	spec, however, it is only needed when "autolaunch" is being used.

	On systems which always pre-start a session bus and export its path to
	DBUS_SESSION_BUS_SOCKET (whether via systemd or via dbus-run-session),
	the ~/.dbus/ directory doesn't need to exist at all.

~/.kvirc4.rc
	Hardcoded, but will use native KDE location if compiled with "KDE
	support" enabled.

~/mbox
	"Well-known" -- various mail apps move "seen" messages here from
	/var/spool/mail.

	Can usually be disabled or relocated through the mail program's
	configuration (e.g. via ~/.mailrc or $MBOX).

~/.netrc
	"Well-known" -- mostly hardcoded, though some apps can be told to use a
	different path.

	curl: $CURLOPT_NETRC_FILE or --netrc-file can override.
	inetutils-ftp: $NETRC or --netrc can override (as of 1.9.3).
	s-nail: $NETRC can override.
	Python (aiohttp): $NETRC can override.
	lftp, netkit-ftp, w3m, wget: Hardcoded.

~/.pki/nssdb/
	Although upstream NSS is XDG-compliant as of 3.42 (commit 7f21d4f49)
	and uses ~/.local/share/pki/nssdb/, this doesn't yet apply to Google
	Chrome (v84) as it uses an older vendor fork of NSS in which the path
	is still hardcoded.

	(It also doesn't apply to Firefox/Thunderbird/Seamonkey which use per-
	profile databases as they always have done.)

~/.XCompose
	The standard libX11 input method (XIM) supports $XCOMPOSEFILE (see the
	Compose(5) manual page).

	libxkbcommon (used by some Wayland software) supports $XCOMPOSEFILE as
	well as $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/XCompose (as of v1.0.0).

	GTK 2 uses its own input method "gtk-im-context-simple" which does not
	support Compose at all (but can be switched to use libX11's XIM using
	GTK_IM_MODULE="xim"). This also applies to GTK 3 (<= 3.18).

	GTK 3 (>= 3.20) and GTK 4 read ~/.XCompose and ignore $XCOMPOSEFILE
	[1], but support $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gtk-3.0/Compose as an alternative
	path (likewise $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gtk-4.0/Compose for GTK 4).

	[1]: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=721120#c30

	uim (1.8.8) uses $XCOMPOSEFILE like libX11.

	IBus (1.5.27) loads *both* ~/.XCompose and $XCOMPOSEFILE in that order.

Miscellaneous
-------------

~/.aspell.conf – environment
  - the 'per-conf' statement in /etc/aspell.conf or $ASPELL_CONF overrides
    ('per-conf-path' as well, except `aspell config` doesn't output that one)
  - contents of $ASPELL_CONF are parsed before all configuration files
    (semicolon-separated)
  - example (no inner quoting needed):
    ASPELL_CONF="per-conf $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/aspell.conf; personal ...; repl ..."
  - documentation: `info aspell customizing`

~/.aspell.<lang>.{per,prepl,pws,repl} – partially configurable
  - *.pws: the 'personal' statement in ~/.aspell.conf (or $ASPELL_CONF &c.) overrides
  - *.prepl: the 'repl' statement overrides
  - no environment variables or ~ though; use $ASPELL_CONF for that
  - in theory, literal "<lang>" should do the right substitution, but doesn't
    (which means you're limited to one language if you choose to override!)

~/.eclipse/
	Just give up.

	Option "-Dosgi.configuration.area=@user.home/.config/etc/etc" overrides
	the location, but must be added to "$ECLIPSE_HOME/eclipse.ini" rather
	than command line -- which means you must have write access to
	$ECLIPSE_HOME, that is, carry your own copy of Eclipse, and I couldn't
	really get it to work anyway (Arch's /usr/bin/eclipse has a hardcoded
	$ECLIPSE_HOME).

	docs: <http://wiki.eclipse.org/Eclipse.ini>

~/.forward – varies
  - most MTAs expect this path, and it's not like they can read .profile
  - some can be reconfigured system-wide (if you have root access)
  (Exim4 – configurable)
    - "file = $home/<path>" overrides (Exim uses a generic 'redirect' router)
  (Postfix – configurable)
    - "forward_path = $home/<path>" overrides
  (Procmail – other options)
    - can use a custom redirect rule instead
  (general – other options)
    - most MTAs have a system-wide 'aliases' file that works the same way

~/.kde/, ~/.kde4/
  - $KDEHOME overrides the default
  - optionally $KDEDIRS can point to additional read-only paths
  - <http://techbase.kde.org/KDE_System_Administration/KDE_Filesystem_Hierarchy>
  - <http://techbase.kde.org/KDE_System_Administration/Configuration_Files>

~/.local (Python user_base) – configurable/environment
  - $PYTHONUSERBASE overrides
  - note that user_base is independent of XDG ~/.local/share

~/.lynxrc – hardcoded
  - userdefs.h:/FNAME_LYNXRC/
  - src/LYrcFile.c:/(read|save)_rc/
  - possibly, lynx.cfg ($LYNX_CFG) could be used instead?

~/.mailrc – environment [varies]
  (Mail – environment)
    - $MAILRC overrides
  (nail, heirloom-mailx, s-nail – environment)
    - $MAILRC overrides default
    - $NAILRC overrides both

~/.npm/ – configurable
  - "cache = <dir>" in ~/.npmrc or $PREFIX/etc/npmrc overrides
  - doc: npm-config(7), npm-cache(1)

~/.npmrc – configurable
  - "userconfig = <path>" in $PREFIX/etc/npmrc overrides
    (or, of course, you could use $PREFIX/etc/npmrc directly)
  - doc: npm-config(7)
  - see also `npm config get globalconfig` & `npm config get userconfig`

~/.opera/ – partial environment
  - $OPERA_PERSONALDIR overrides
  - however, 1 file remains (~/.opera/OperaAutoupdateChecker.sqlite)

~/.rnd
	Not sure what exactly creates this, but at least for OpenSSL (??),
	$RANDFILE can be used to move it into a different *directory*.

~/.terminfo/ (ncurses) – environment
  - $TERMINFO_DIRS overrides (colon-separated list):
    - TERMINFO_DIRS="$XDG_DATA_HOME/terminfo:/usr/share/terminfo"
  - $TERMINFO overrides (system path not searched)
  - docs: terminfo(5)

~/.Xkbmap – hardcoded/configurable
  - hardcoded in /etc/gdm/Xsession (although GNOME uses dconf)
    as well as other Xsession scripts in other DMs
  - however, ~/.xprofile and ~/.xinitrc can use a custom path
  - also, most DEs have their own configurations for this

~/.Xresources – hardcoded/configurable
  - hardcoded in Xsession scripts of many DMs
  - however, ~/.xprofile and ~/.xinitrc can use a custom path

~/FS-UAE/ - environment; configurable?
  - $FS_UAE_BASE_DIR
    deprecated
  - supposedly $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/fs-uae/fs-uae.conf can override it
    (e.g. "base_dir = $HOME/.local/share/fs-uae/")
    but the python-based launcher completely ignores it

~/.*_history (rlwrap) – environment
  - $RLWRAP_HOME specifies an alternative directory
    (e.g. RLWRAP_HOME="$XDG_CACHE_HOME/rlwrap/")