xdg

Provides an implementation of the XDG Base Directory Specification. The specification defines a set of standard paths for storing application files, including data and configuration files. For portability and flexibility reasons, applications should use the XDG defined locations instead of hardcoding paths.

The package also includes the locations of well known user directories and an implementation of the state directory proposal. Windows, macOS and most flavors of Unix are supported.

Full documentation can be found at: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/adrg/xdg.

Installation

go get github.com/adrg/xdg

Default locations

The package defines sensible defaults for XDG variables which are empty or not present in the environment.

XDG Base Directory

	Unix	macOS	Windows
XDG_DATA_HOME	~/.local/share	~/Library/Application Support	%LOCALAPPDATA%
XDG_DATA_DIRS	/usr/local/share /usr/share	/Library/Application Support	%APPDATA%\Roaming %PROGRAMDATA%
XDG_CONFIG_HOME	~/.config	~/Library/Preferences	%LOCALAPPDATA%
XDG_CONFIG_DIRS	/etc/xdg	/Library/Preferences	%PROGRAMDATA%
XDG_CACHE_HOME	~/.cache	~/Library/Caches	%LOCALAPPDATA%\cache
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR	/run/user/UID	~/Library/Application Support	%LOCALAPPDATA%

XDG user directories

	Unix	macOS	Windows
XDG_DESKTOP_DIR	~/Desktop	~/Desktop	%USERPROFILE%/Desktop
XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR	~/Downloads	~/Downloads	%USERPROFILE%/Downloads
XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR	~/Documents	~/Documents	%USERPROFILE%/Documents
XDG_MUSIC_DIR	~/Music	~/Music	%USERPROFILE%/Music
XDG_PICTURES_DIR	~/Pictures	~/Pictures	%USERPROFILE%/Pictures
XDG_VIDEOS_DIR	~/Videos	~/Movies	%USERPROFILE%/Videos
XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR	~/Templates	~/Templates	%USERPROFILE%/Templates
XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR	~/Public	~/Public	%PUBLIC%

Non-standard directories

Application directories

Unix:
- $XDG_DATA_HOME/applications
- ~/.local/share/applications
- /usr/local/share/applications
- /usr/share/applications
- $XDG_DATA_DIRS/applications

macOS:
- /Applications

Windows:
- %APPDATA%\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

Font directories

Unix:
- $XDG_DATA_HOME/fonts
- ~/.fonts
- ~/.local/share/fonts
- /usr/local/share/fonts
- /usr/share/fonts
- $XDG_DATA_DIRS/fonts

macOS:
- ~/Library/Fonts
- /Library/Fonts
- /System/Library/Fonts
- /Network/Library/Fonts

Windows:
- %windir%\Fonts
- %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Fonts

State directory

Unix:    ~/.local/state
macOS:   ~/Library/Application Support
Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%

Usage

XDG Base Directory

package main

import (
	"log"

	"github.com/adrg/xdg"
)

func main() {
	// XDG Base Directory paths.
	log.Println("Home data directory:", xdg.DataHome)
	log.Println("Data directories:", xdg.DataDirs)
	log.Println("Home config directory:", xdg.ConfigHome)
	log.Println("Config directories:", xdg.ConfigDirs)
	log.Println("Cache directory:", xdg.CacheHome)
	log.Println("Runtime directory:", xdg.RuntimeDir)

	// Non-standard directories.
	log.Println("Home state directory:", xdg.StateHome)
	log.Println("Application directories:", xdg.ApplicationDirs)
	log.Println("Font directories:", xdg.FontDirs)

	// Obtain a suitable location for application config files.
	// ConfigFile takes one parameter which must contain the name of the file,
	// but it can also contain a set of parent directories. If the directories
	// don't exist, they will be created relative to the base config directory.
	configFilePath, err := xdg.ConfigFile("appname/config.yaml")
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	log.Println("Save the config file at:", configFilePath)

	// For other types of application files use:
	// xdg.DataFile()
	// xdg.CacheFile()
	// xdg.RuntimeFile()
	// xdg.StateFile()

	// Finding application config files.
	// SearchConfigFile takes one parameter which must contain the name of
	// the file, but it can also contain a set of parent directories relative
	// to the config search paths (xdg.ConfigHome and xdg.ConfigDirs).
	configFilePath, err = xdg.SearchConfigFile("appname/config.yaml")
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	log.Println("Config file was found at:", configFilePath)

	// For other types of application files use:
	// xdg.SearchDataFile()
	// xdg.SearchCacheFile()
	// xdg.SearchRuntimeFile()
	// xdg.SearchStateFile()
}

XDG user directories

package main

import (
	"log"

	"github.com/adrg/xdg"
)

func main() {
	// XDG user directories.
	log.Println("Desktop directory:", xdg.UserDirs.Desktop)
	log.Println("Download directory:", xdg.UserDirs.Download)
	log.Println("Documents directory:", xdg.UserDirs.Documents)
	log.Println("Music directory:", xdg.UserDirs.Music)
	log.Println("Pictures directory:", xdg.UserDirs.Pictures)
	log.Println("Videos directory:", xdg.UserDirs.Videos)
	log.Println("Templates directory:", xdg.UserDirs.Templates)
	log.Println("Public directory:", xdg.UserDirs.PublicShare)
}

Stargazers over time

Contributing

Contributions in the form of pull requests, issues or just general feedback, are always welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.MD.

Contributors: adrg, wichert, bouncepaw, gabriel-vasile, KalleDK.

References

For more information see:

• XDG Base Directory Specification
• XDG user directories
• XDG state directory proposal
• XDG_STATE_HOME proposal

License

Copyright (c) 2014 Adrian-George Bostan.

This project is licensed under the MIT license. See LICENSE for more details.