The
XDG Basedirectory specification proposes default homedir folders for the categories DATA (~/.local/share), CONFIG (~/.config) and CACHE (~/.cache). One category however is missing:
STATE. This category has been requested several times but nothing happened.
Examples for state data are:
- history files of shells, repls, anything that uses libreadline
- logfiles
- state of application windows on
exit
- recently opened files
- last time application was run
- emacs: bookmarks, ido last directories, backups, auto-save files, auto-save-list
The missing STATE category is especially annoying if you're managing your dotfiles with a VCS (e.g. via
VCSH) and you care to keep your homedir tidy.
If you're as annoyed as me about the missing STATE category, please voice your opinion on the
XDG mailing list.
Of course it's a very long way until applications really use such a STATE directory. But without a common standard it will never happen.
