The diversity of Linux distributions is one of its strengths, but it can also be challenging for app and game development. Where do we need more standards? For example, package management, graphics APIs, or other aspects of the ecosystem? Would such increased standards encourage broader adoption of the Linux ecosystem by developers?
Where app data is stored.
~/.local
~/.config
~/.var
~/.appname
Sometimes more than one place for the same program
Pick one and stop cluttering my home directory
I have good news and bad news:
A specification already exists. https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/latest/
good luck winning any of these refusers over https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/XDG_Base_Directory#Hardcoded
Eh, things have gotten better, and there are tools that make these tools respect them.
Yea I like how a lot have moved to using .config but mozilla just moved out of there and now has a .mozilla folder outside of it… wtf… It is insanely sad.
I have actually moved my entire “user home folder”… folders out of there just because it is so ugly and unorganized. I now use /home/user/userfolders/… all my stuff like documents / videos etc in here
it’s pretty bad. steam for example has both
~/.steam and
~/.local/share/Steam
for some reason. I’m just happy I moved to an impermanent setup for my PC, so I don’t need to worry something I temporarily install is going to clutter my home directory with garbage
that .steam is a bunch of symlinks to the .local one… which makes it even worse. they have also .steampid and .steampath.
and even worse a bunch of games are starting to add them there too.
This would also be nice for atomic distros, application space and system space could be separated in more cases.