[SOLVED] $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR portable fallback

fsckd · 2016-02-22 13:03:01

The basedir spec says, "If $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is not set applications should fall back to a replacement directory with similar capabilities and print a warning message." What would be a good replacement directory which is also available on other Unix systems? My thought is to try in order /run/user/$UID, /var/run/user/$UID, and then may be something in $HOME or /tmp.

Last edited by fsckd (2016-02-24 04:53:50)

Trilby · 2016-02-22 13:24:01

Hmm, there are very rarely that many musts in a specification like that. Sticking to those criteria would rule out anything under $HOME and probably /tmp too. /var/run/user/$UID then /run/user/$UID are the only ones that make sense to me. If both of those are absent it seems like a moot point to me - put the data wherever convientient at that point. If the filesystem hierarchy standard isn't used on a system, would users of that system be mad that your program didn't abide by the XDG specificiation? The former seems (to me) to be a higher level than the latter. So trying to abide by the XDG on a non FHS system just seems silly.

fsckd · 2016-02-24 00:36:03

Thanks, that's a reasonable way to look at it. Between $HOME and /tmp, /tmp is perhaps the better choice. The files can be given restricted permissions and will likely be cleared on reboot.

Arch Linux

#1 2016-02-22 13:03:01

[SOLVED] $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR portable fallback

#2 2016-02-22 13:24:01

Re: [SOLVED] $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR portable fallback

#3 2016-02-24 00:36:03

Re: [SOLVED] $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR portable fallback

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