Re: XDG Base Directory Specification ignores installation directories

[pertusus]

On Thu, Aug 29, 2024 at 07:43:00AM +0300, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> > From: Gavin Smith <gavinsmith0123@gmail.com>
> > Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2024 21:26:55 +0100
> > 
> > I'm a bit confused as I thought it was configuration files which we
> > were discussing, which would be XDG_CONFIG_DIRS, not XDG_DATA_DIRS.
> > 
> > I see that htmlxref.cnf is installed under $datadir, e.g. as
> > "/usr/local/share/texinfo/htmlxref.cnf".  I suppose there is a question
> > of whether this file counts as "data" or "configuration".  We should
> > decide which one each file we are talking about is, otherwise this issue
> > is more confusing.
> 
> I don't understand why we are discussing
> /usr/local/share/texinfo/htmlxref.cnf.  AFAIU, the XDG specification
> is for files specific to users, not system-wide configuration files.
> So the system-wide htmlxref.cnf should not be affected by XDG, only
> user-specific files ~/htmlxref.cnf and ~/.texinfo/htmlxref.cnf should
> be affected.  Or what am I missing? 

The XDG specification is for both user-specific files and
system/packages files.  For user-specific files it may easily be used
exclusively, as it defines clearly how writing and reading should be
performed and the user should always have the right to write there.
In my opinion, another reason why it should be more used is that it
seems better to use specialized dot directory, instead of having
every application add a dot directory or dot file with diverse type of
information in it.

The XDG specification can also be used for system-wide resources lookup,
with XDG_DATA_DIRS and XDG_CONFIG_DIRS and associated defaults, but in
that case the situation is much more complex, as there may be resources
installed as part of the system, locally compiled and installed, the
user do not necessarily have the right to write in the directories and
some resources may need to be found independently of any configuration.
So the XDG Base Directory Specification can be used, but depending on
the context and what we want, parts can be ignored, other paths could be
added, such as $datadir/texinfo/ in our case.

-- 
Pat