XDG Base Directory

2195

If present ~/.actrc will be merged with the XDG path config.

1.2.3

XDG_CONFIG_HOME/Google/AndroidStudioX.X
XDG_DATA_HOME/Google/AndroidStudioX.X
XDG_CACHE_HOME/Google/AndroidStudioX.X

Location overview by Google does not mention XDG - paths could be hardcoded instead of using the proper variable, though that is unlikely as Intellij IDEA, which Android Studio is based on, implements it properly as well

XDG_CONFIG_HOME/aria2/
XDG_CACHE_HOME/aria2/

XDG_CONFIG_HOME/atuin/config.toml
XDG_DATA_HOME/atuin/history.db

XDG_CONFIG_HOME/audacity
XDG_DATA_HOME/audacity

XDG_CONFIG_HOME/Bitwarden CLI

The BITWARDENCLI_APPDATA_DIR environment variable takes precedence.

Currently contains a single data.json file with all the vault data, so it ought to belong in XDG_DATA_HOME

XDG_CONFIG_HOME/byobu

Legacy path takes precedence if present, or if XDG_CONFIG_HOME is not set.

XDG_CONFIG_HOME/calcurse
XDG_DATA_HOME/calcurse

If the legacy path ~/.calcurse is present, it will take precedence.

XDG_CONFIG_HOME/celestia/celestiarc

XDG_CACHE_HOME/ccache
XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ccache/ccache.conf

XDG_CACHE_HOME/clangd

Project specific configuration can be specified in proj/.clangd. Configuration is combined when this is sensible. In case of conflicts, user config has the highest precedence, then inner project, then outer project.

0.8.13

If the legacy path is present, it will take precedence.

8fb0b04

Pull request 2384

See Ctags Option files.

27.1

Legacy paths have precedence over XDG paths. Emacs will never create XDG_CONFIG_HOME/emacs/. Workaround for 26.3 or older: It's possible to set HOME, but it has unexpected side effects.

XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mozilla/

The legacy path is used if ~/.mozilla/firefox is present. As of Firefox 147.0.2 there is a bug when using the XDG location:

• native-messaging-hosts do not work [37].

[42] [43]

0.20.0

XDG_CONFIG_HOME/FreeCAD
XDG_DATA_HOME/FreeCAD
XDG_CACHE_HOME/FreeCAD

legacy path can be used with FreeCAD --keep-deprecated-paths

60e0cfe 483505f

[50] [51]

[52]

3.0-stable

The old method of export STACK_ROOT="$XDG_DATA_HOME"/stack still works and takes priority [58].

XDG_CONFIG_HOME/JetBrains/IntelliJIdeaXXXX.X
XDG_DATA_HOME/JetBrains/IntelliJIdeaXXXX.X
XDG_CACHE_HOME/JetBrains/IntelliJIdeaXXXX.X

XDG_CONFIG_HOME/latexmk/latexmkrc

full support in 598

XDG_CONFIG_HOME/lesskey

XDG_STATE_HOME/lesshst or XDG_DATA_HOME/lesshst

• native-messaging-hosts do not work [73].

[74]

XDG_CONFIG_HOME/luarocks
XDG_CACHE_HOME/luarocks

If the legacy path ~/.luarocks is present, it will take precedence.

1b99570 0b71156 ce401d7

3540200 4.2

af2f409 v1.6.7+

38d9f81 27cd86e

[84] [85] [86]

[87] [88]

mkdir -p "$XDG_DATA_HOME"/newsboat "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/newsboat

~/.utoprc

9729963

XDG_CONFIG_HOME/utop/utoprc

ebcf3de

github.com/osc/pull/940

XDG_CONFIG_HOME/osc/oscrc XDG_STATE_HOME/osc/cookiejar

Legacy path takes precedence if it exists

87f1e8f a9020c6 3b22f0f 0a012ae

[116] [117]

a0be0cc7 15e1fc92 e9d1be0e

59a8618 87ae830 9ab510a 4c195bc

XDG_CONFIG_DIR/pulse
XDG_CONFIG_DIR/pulse/cookie

fd8686e 66d704b 51cff01

XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gem/gemrc
XDG_CONFIG_HOME/irb
XDG_DATA_HOME/gem
XDG_DATA_HOME/rdoc

mkdir "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/scummvm/ "$XDG_DATA_HOME"/scummvm mv ~/.scummvmrc "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/scummvm/scummvm.ini mv ~/.scummvm "$XDG_DATA_HOME"/scummvm/saves

See Shellcheck RC Files for more info.

3e4591d bd8c427 f57fc71

XDG_DATA_HOME/themes

For Qt programs, GTK or Qt programs on Wayland, to use cursors in XDG_DATA_HOME/icons, the XCURSOR_PATH environment variable needs to be configured.

See :h xdg-base-dir for more details.
Full XDG support is pending: [154]

68a25c7 d138908

3.2

XDG_CONFIG_HOME/weechat
XDG_DATA_HOME/weechat
XDG_CACHE_HOME/weechat
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/weechat

9fc6b37 eaccf70

[165]

[166] [167]

XDG_CACHE_HOME/xmonad
XDG_CONFIG_HOME/xmonad
XDG_DATA_HOME/xmonad

Alternatively, it always respects XMONAD_CACHE_DIR, XMONAD_CONFIG_DIR, and XMONAD_DATA_DIR.

1.1.0

[170]

 $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/zim/preferences.conf
 $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/zim/notebooks.list

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/zutils.conf

export ANSIBLE_HOME="${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/ansible"
export ANSIBLE_GALAXY_CACHE_DIR="${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/ansible/galaxy_cache"
export ANSIBLE_LOCAL_TEMP="${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/ansible/tmp"
export ANSIBLE_SSH_CONTROL_PATH_DIR="${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/ansible/cp"
export ANSIBLE_ASYNC_DIR="${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/ansible_async"

HOME="$XDG_DATA_HOME" btcli

Even if $BUP_DIR is not set, $XDG_CACHE_HOME will be used for cache.

export CALCHISTFILE="$XDG_CACHE_HOME"/calc_history

or use the fork that has native XDG support: [194]

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/clusterssh/config

extra_cluster_file=$HOME/.config/clusterssh/clusters
extra_tag_file=$HOME/.config/clusterssh/tags

Despite this, clusterssh will still create ~/.clusterssh/.

export CRAWL_DIR="$XDG_DATA_HOME"/crawl/

Undocumented, though actively used: export DISCORD_USER_DATA_DIR="${XDG_DATA_HOME}"

Source: <discord_system_package_root>/resources/app.asar.

export MIX_XDG="true"

mkdir "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/erlang mv ~/.erlang.cookie "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/erlang

__Game_Install_directory/config-path.cfg

use-system-read-write-data-directories=true

__Game_Install_directory/config/config.ini

[path]
read-data=__PATH__executable__/../../data
write-data=.local/share/factorio

The environment variable GHCUP_USE_XDG_DIRS can be set to any non-empty value. See [220].

~/.screen/

Note that this currently does not work out-of-the-box using systemd user units and socket-based activation, since the socket directory changes based on the hash of $GNUPGHOME. You can get the new socket directory using gpgconf --list-dirs socketdir and have to modify the systemd user units to listen on the correct sockets accordingly. You also have to use the following gpg-agent.service drop-in file (or otherwise pass the GNUPGHOME env var to the agent running in systemd), or you might experience issues with "missing" private keys:

[Service]
Environment="GNUPGHOME=%h/.local/share/gnupg"

If you use GPG as your SSH agent, set SSH_AUTH_SOCK to the output of gpgconf --list-dirs agent-ssh-socket instead of some hardcoded value.

export GR_PREFS_PATH="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/gnuradio

GNU Radio Companion: export GRC_PREFS_PATH="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/gnuradio/grc.conf

If GOMODCACHE is not set, it defaults to $GOPATH/pkg/mod (see [227]). GOCACHE is supported and defaults to $XDG_CACHE_HOME/go-build (see [228]).

~/.config/gopass/config.yml

root:
path: gpgcli-gitcli-fs+file:///home/<userid>/.config/password-store

PASSWORD_STORE_DIR is supported only during initialization.

[230]

If Lxappearance is used, ~/.gtkrc-2.0 may keep being created because it is where clicking "Apply" customizations writes to. The path is hardcoded in Lxappearance, but simply being an output file, the settings can be repeatedly moved to the location.

To prevent KDE Plasma from creating this file, disable the "GNOME/GTK Settings Synchronization" background service.

[233]

The value of this variable must include the substring __HVER__, which will be replaced at run time with the current MAJOR.MINOR version string.

~/.profile

$ export IRBRC="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/irb/irbrc

"$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/irb/irbrc

IRB.conf[:SAVE_HISTORY] ||= 1000
IRB.conf[:HISTORY_FILE] ||= File.join(ENV["XDG_DATA_HOME"], "irb", "history")

export JUPYTER_CONFIG_DIR="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/jupyter

v5.0.0 <= python-jupyter-core < v6.0.0:

export JUPYTER_PLATFORM_DIRS="1" (see [239])

python-jupyter-core >= v6.0.0: full support (via python-platformdirs ) enabled by default

KDE4 uses KDEHOME. It is not recommended to set the variable for newer versions.

to change the m2 repo location used by leiningen look here: Leiningen#m2_repo_location

Make sure XDG_CACHE_HOME is set beforehand to directory user running Xorg has write access to.

Do not use XDG_RUNTIME_DIR as it is available after login. Display managers that launch Xorg (like GDM) will repeatedly fail otherwise.

/opt/maptool/lib/app/MapTool.cfg

[JavaOptions]
-DMAPTOOL_DATADIR=.local/share/maptool-rptools

However, no way to change the location of this configuration file.

, mvn -gs "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/maven/settings.xml and set <localRepository> as appropriate in settings.xml

Used to be MATHEMATICA_USERBASE, see Upgrading from Mathematica to Wolfram.

Creates a further .minikube directory in MINIKUBE_HOME for whatever reason.

/etc/mtpaint/mtpaintrc

userINI = ~/.config/mtpaint

~/.my.cnf only supported for mysql-server, not mysql-client [261]

~/.mylogin.cnf unsupported

export TERMINFO="$XDG_DATA_HOME"/terminfo, export TERMINFO_DIRS="$XDG_DATA_HOME"/terminfo:/usr/share/terminfo

npmrc

prefix=${XDG_DATA_HOME}/npm
cache=${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/npm
init-module=${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/npm/config/npm-init.js
logs-dir=${XDG_STATE_HOME}/npm/logs

prefix is unnecessary (and unsupported) if Node.js is installed by nvm .

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/octave/octaverc

source /usr/share/octave/site/m/startup/octaverc;
pkg prefix ~/.local/share/octave/packages ~/.local/share/octave/packages;
pkg local_list /home/<your username>/.local/share/octave/octave_packages;

The local_list option must be given an absolute path.

Both configuration and state data are stored in OPAMROOT, so this solution is not fully compliant.

Currently it hard-codes ~/.local/share.

Log files may still be written to ~/pt/logs regardless of this setting until the .packettracer file is recreated manually.

Also [274] and [275]

export PHIVE_HOME="$XDG_DATA_HOME/phive"

It is required to create both directories: mkdir "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/pg" && mkdir "$XDG_STATE_HOME"

The projectzomboid.sh script also defines its own game data location with GAMEDIR="${HOME}/Zomboid". If you use Steam, the script will be reset when the game updates, so editing it manually is not an option. But you can make a custom script that will always patch the main script if it gets restored by Steam:

start.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash
SCRIPT="$(dirname "0ドル")/projectzomboid.sh"
sed 's|GAMEDIR|"${HOME}/Zomboid"|GAMEDIR="${XDG_DATA_HOME}/Zomboid"|' -i "$SCRIPT"
exec "$SCRIPT" -cachedir="${XDG_DATA_HOME}"/Zomboid/ "$@"

Name it start.sh and put it where projectzomboid.sh is, then make Steam execute ./start.sh instead of the main script with ./start.sh # %command%", note that this will also launch the game without Steam Linux Runtime.

PYTHON_HISTORY: export PYTHON_HISTORY=$XDG_STATE_HOME/python_history PYTHONPYCACHEPREFIX: export PYTHONPYCACHEPREFIX=$XDG_CACHE_HOME/python PYTHONUSERBASE: export PYTHONUSERBASE=$XDG_DATA_HOME/python

export RENPY_PATH_TO_SAVES="$XDG_DATA_HOME/renpy"
export RENPY_MULTIPERSISTENT="$XDG_DATA_HOME/renpy_shared"

export BUNDLE_USER_CACHE=$XDG_CACHE_HOME/bundle
export BUNDLE_USER_CONFIG=$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/bundle/config
export BUNDLE_USER_PLUGIN=$XDG_DATA_HOME/bundle

For more info see Bundler: bundle config.

~/.ivy2

Both configuration and data files are stored in SDKMAN_DIR, so this solution does not fully conform to the XDG Base Directory Specification.

[300]

mv ~/.ssr "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/simplescreenrecorder

export SPACEMACSDIR="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/spacemacs, mv ~/.spacemacs "$SPACEMACSDIR"/init.el

Other files need to be configured like Emacs.

tiptop -W "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/tiptop

Setting this makes the editor look for the contents of .config/Code - OSS in $VSCODE_PORTABLE/user-data.

You can also run Visual Studio with the --extensions-dir flag, such as code --extensions-dir "$XDG_DATA_HOME/vscode". This is documented and probably will not break as unexpectedly, as it has other use cases .

You can also edit the value of dataFolderName in product.json file to .local/share/codium or the path you want. But this workaround will have to be applies after every update of the pacakge, so you can install vscodium-xdg-dir-patch ^AUR that does it automatically.

The directory needs to be created manually

mkdir "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/wakatime"

mkdir -p "$XDG_DATA_HOME"/wineprefixes, export WINEPREFIX="$XDG_DATA_HOME"/wineprefixes/default

App also creates ~/.x3270connect but this is currently unsupported.

Depending on where you have configured your $XDG_CACHE_HOME, you might need to expand the paths yourself.

# xsession start script

USERXSESSION="$XDG_CACHE_HOME/X11/xsession"
USERXSESSIONRC="$XDG_CACHE_HOME/X11/xsessionrc"
ALTUSERXSESSION="$XDG_CACHE_HOME/X11/Xsession"
ERRFILE="$XDG_CACHE_HOME/X11/xsession-errors"

Unlike most other examples in this table, actual X11 init scripts will vary a lot between installations.

Note that LightDM does not allow you to change this variable. If you change it nonetheless, you will not be able to login. Use startx instead or configure LightDM. According to [325] SLiM has ~/.Xauthority hardcoded.

The SDDM Xauthority path can be changed in its own configuration files as shown below. Unfortunately, it is relative to the home directory.

/etc/sddm.conf.d/xauth-path.conf

[X11]
UserAuthFile=.Xauthority

On Wayland, overriding this may cause Xorg programs to fail to connect to the Xwayland server. For example, both kwin and mutter use a randomized name, so it cannot be set to a static value.

"$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/zsh/.zshrc

# Use XDG dirs for completion and history files
[ -d "$XDG_STATE_HOME"/zsh ] || mkdir -p "$XDG_STATE_HOME"/zsh
HISTFILE="$XDG_STATE_HOME"/zsh/history
[ -d "$XDG_CACHE_HOME"/zsh ] || mkdir -p "$XDG_CACHE_HOME"/zsh
zstyle ':completion:*' cache-path "$XDG_CACHE_HOME"/zsh/zcompcache
compinit -d "$XDG_CACHE_HOME"/zsh/zcompdump-$ZSH_VERSION

Finally, if you use zsh as a login shell and chose to rely on either of the startup files ~/.zshenv or, ~/.zprofile or, ~/.zlogin to set important environment variables such as ZDOTDIR, to bootstrap, there is no way around having the one file that sets ZDOTDIR be in the default location. For context, an exception is if your wider system configuration does set the ZDOTDIR environment variable before that.

In the above config file, some locations can be customized using options like newsrc-path= and address-book=.

Specify the new directories used by Arduino CLI in arduino-cli.yaml as mentioned in the documentation here. alias arduino-cli='arduino-cli --config-file $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/arduino15/arduino-cli.yaml'

export HISTFILE="$XDG_STATE_HOME"/bash/history

bashrc can be sourced from a different location in /etc/bash.bashrc. Specify --init-file <file> as an alternative to ~/.bashrc for interactive shells.

[359]

export JULIA_DEPOT_PATH="$XDG_DATA_HOME/julia:$JULIA_DEPOT_PATH"
export JULIAUP_DEPOT_PATH="$XDG_DATA_HOME/julia"

export KUBECONFIG="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/kube" 
export KUBECACHEDIR="$XDG_CACHE_HOME/kube"

Generated by the maintenance scripts eval.php and sql.php.

[397]

export OLLAMA_MODELS=$XDG_DATA_HOME/ollama/models

Source: [399]

R_HOME_USER="$HOME/.config/R"
R_PROFILE_USER="$HOME/.config/R/profile"
R_HISTFILE="$HOME/.config/R/history"

/etc/sbclrc

(require :asdf)
(setf sb-ext:*userinit-pathname-function*
 (lambda () (uiop:xdg-config-home #P"sbcl/sbclrc")))

Note that this requires root privileges and will change the location of ~/.sbclrc for all users. This can be mitigated by checking for an existing ~/.sbclrc inside the lambda form.

export VIMPERATOR_RUNTIME="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"/vimperator