xdg-user-dirs – purpose?

[Thomas U. Grüttmüller]

Hello,

I could not find within the documentation of xdg-user-dirs anything
about the *purpose* of these directories. For some dirs, their purpose
is obvious, for others not.

DESKTOP

*Some* file managers display this folder in the root window. Others,
e.g. ROX, don’t.

TEMPLATES

This looks very useful. You can put file templates there. Each of them
will generate a menu item in the file manager like “New HTML file…”.

DOWNLOAD

This folder is a dump where the web browser will put all sorts of
downloaded files. After a short time there will be total chaos. :-(

PUBLICSHARE

This looks interesting. Has it ever been implemented? It reminds me of
the public_html folder found in older distributions.

DOCUMENTS

The purpose is not obvious. Gimp uses it as a default to save pictures;
Anki uses it to store its configuration files…

MUSIC
PICTURES
VIDEOS

No program seems to use these folders. Their purpose is not obvious to me.

Greetings,
Thomas

[Roman Chistokhodov]

MUSIC, PICTURES and VIDEOS may be used by applications as default folder to
look for this kind of files. E.g. VLC uses it to make playlists named My
Music, My Videos and My Pictures (not sure why VLC cares about pictures
though).
Shotwell uses Pictures folder ti import photos.

Post by Thomas U. Grüttmüller
Hello,
I could not find within the documentation of xdg-user-dirs anything about
the *purpose* of these directories. For some dirs, their purpose is
obvious, for others not.
DESKTOP
*Some* file managers display this folder in the root window. Others, e.g.
ROX, don’t.
TEMPLATES
This looks very useful. You can put file templates there. Each of them
will generate a menu item in the file manager like “New HTML file
”.
DOWNLOAD
This folder is a dump where the web browser will put all sorts of
downloaded files. After a short time there will be total chaos. :-(
PUBLICSHARE
This looks interesting. Has it ever been implemented? It reminds me of the
public_html folder found in older distributions.
DOCUMENTS
The purpose is not obvious. Gimp uses it as a default to save pictures;
Anki uses it to store its configuration files

MUSIC
PICTURES
VIDEOS
No program seems to use these folders. Their purpose is not obvious to me.
Greetings,
Thomas
_______________________________________________
xdg mailing list
https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/xdg

[IFo Hancroft]

Sry, forgot to add the list in the e-mail.

VLC cares about the Picture folder because of screenshots you make of
the video file being played.

Post by Roman Chistokhodov
MUSIC, PICTURES and VIDEOS may be used by applications as default folder
to look for this kind of files. E.g. VLC uses it to make playlists named
My Music, My Videos and My Pictures (not sure why VLC cares about
pictures though).
Shotwell uses Pictures folder ti import photos.
Hello,
I could not find within the documentation of xdg-user-dirs anything
about the *purpose* of these directories. For some dirs, their
purpose is obvious, for others not.
DESKTOP
*Some* file managers display this folder in the root window. Others,
e.g. ROX, don’t.
TEMPLATES
This looks very useful. You can put file templates there. Each of
them will generate a menu item in the file manager like “New HTML
file…”.
DOWNLOAD
This folder is a dump where the web browser will put all sorts of
downloaded files. After a short time there will be total chaos. :-(
PUBLICSHARE
This looks interesting. Has it ever been implemented? It reminds me
of the public_html folder found in older distributions.
DOCUMENTS
The purpose is not obvious. Gimp uses it as a default to save
pictures; Anki uses it to store its configuration files…
MUSIC
PICTURES
VIDEOS
No program seems to use these folders. Their purpose is not obvious to me.
Greetings,
Thomas
_______________________________________________
xdg mailing list
https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/xdg
<https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/xdg>
_______________________________________________
xdg mailing list
https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/xdg

[Simon McVittie]

I would suggest looking at how major graphical environments like GNOME,
Unity and KDE use these directories. The examples I give here are from
GNOME because that's the one I'm most familiar with, but I think KDE has
similar behaviour.

Post by Thomas U. Grüttmüller
DESKTOP
*Some* file managers display this folder in the root window. Others, e.g.
ROX, don’t.

Environments that want to display a folder as if it was the root
window[1], like Windows does (e.g. GNOME 2 and its various forks) should
use this one. Not all environments want that UX (e.g. the designers of
both GNOME 3 and Unity chose to leave the desktop empty); the environments
that don't have the concept of file icons on the desktop have no special
use for this folder. It would not be appropriate for freedesktop.org to
try to force graphical environments to put icons on the desktop if they
have chosen not to.

Post by Thomas U. Grüttmüller
DOWNLOAD
This folder is a dump where the web browser will put all sorts of downloaded
files. After a short time there will be total chaos. :-(

In some browsers it's the default location to download/save files. In
browsers that just save the file without prompting for a location, it's
the only location. It isn't freedesktop.org's place to make that sort of
UX decision for browsers: if you don't like how a particular browser
operates, talk to its authors.

In GNOME it's also the target for Bluetooth file transfers.

Post by Thomas U. Grüttmüller
PUBLICSHARE
This looks interesting. Has it ever been implemented? It reminds me of the
public_html folder found in older distributions.

Yes, GNOME can export it via WebDAV (the Sharing panel in the System
Settings, which controls gnome-user-share). I think it was also
available read-only via Bluetooth in the past, although I can't find
an option for that now.

Post by Thomas U. Grüttmüller
DOCUMENTS
The purpose is not obvious. Gimp uses it as a default to save pictures; Anki
uses it to store its configuration files…

It's the equivalent of Windows' "My Documents" folder, used as a
default/suggested location for files saved by the user in content-creation
applications ("office" apps, and more specialized editors like GIMP or
Inkscape). From what you've said here, I think GIMP is using it correctly,
and Anki is not - configuration files are usually implicitly created
by using or reconfiguring an application rather than being explicitly
saved by the user, so they should go in the XDG_CONFIG_HOME defined by
the XDG basedir spec (which by default is hidden, so the user doesn't
normally see files in their file browser that they didn't choose to
create).

Post by Thomas U. Grüttmüller
MUSIC
PICTURES
VIDEOS
No program seems to use these folders. Their purpose is not obvious to me.

Many media players default to looking in MUSIC and/or VIDEOS, as
appropriate for the content type(s) they play. Photo management
apps like GNOME's Shotwell normally look in PICTURES, and GNOME also
saves screenshots there by default.

smcv

[1] Technically it's a full-screen window layered above the root window,
at least in the implementation in GNOME's Nautilus (and I think
probably all others)

[Thomas U. Grüttmüller]

Post by Simon McVittie

Post by Thomas U. Grüttmüller
PUBLICSHARE
This looks interesting. Has it ever been implemented? It reminds me of the
public_html folder found in older distributions.

Yes, GNOME can export it via WebDAV (the Sharing panel in the System
Settings, which controls gnome-user-share). I think it was also
available read-only via Bluetooth in the past, although I can't find
an option for that now.

Interesting.

Post by Simon McVittie

Post by Thomas U. Grüttmüller
DOCUMENTS
The purpose is not obvious. Gimp uses it as a default to save pictures; Anki
uses it to store its configuration files…

It's the equivalent of Windows' "My Documents" folder, used as a
default/suggested location for files saved by the user in content-creation
applications ("office" apps, and more specialized editors like GIMP or
Inkscape). From what you've said here, I think GIMP is using it correctly,
and Anki is not - configuration files are usually implicitly created
by using or reconfiguring an application rather than being explicitly
saved by the user, so they should go in the XDG_CONFIG_HOME defined by
the XDG basedir spec (which by default is hidden, so the user doesn't
normally see files in their file browser that they didn't choose to
create).

What is the difference between DOCUMENTS and $HOME?

Greetings
Thomas

[Simon Lees]

Post by Thomas U. Grüttmüller

Post by Simon McVittie

            PUBLICSHARE
This looks interesting. Has it ever been implemented? It reminds me of the
public_html folder found in older distributions.

Yes, GNOME can export it via WebDAV (the Sharing panel in the System
Settings, which controls gnome-user-share). I think it was also
available read-only via Bluetooth in the past, although I can't find
an option for that now.

Interesting.

Post by Simon McVittie

            DOCUMENTS
The purpose is not obvious. Gimp uses it as a default to save pictures; Anki
uses it to store its configuration files…

It's the equivalent of Windows' "My Documents" folder, used as a
default/suggested location for files saved by the user in
content-creation
applications ("office" apps, and more specialized editors like GIMP or
Inkscape). From what you've said here, I think GIMP is using it correctly,
and Anki is not - configuration files are usually implicitly created
by using or reconfiguring an application rather than being explicitly
saved by the user, so they should go in the XDG_CONFIG_HOME defined by
the XDG basedir spec (which by default is hidden, so the user doesn't
normally see files in their file browser that they didn't choose to
create).

What is the difference between DOCUMENTS and $HOME?
Greetings
Thomas

Personally "Documents" is where I keep everything I work on thats not
source code, and where I keep my invoices / receipts etc, it makes them
easier to find then if they were in $HOME with everything else, the fact
that libreoffice uses this as its default save / load location also
makes life easier.

[Jehan Pagès]

Hi,

Post by Thomas U. Grüttmüller
Hello,
I could not find within the documentation of xdg-user-dirs anything about
the *purpose* of these directories. For some dirs, their purpose is obvious,
for others not.

As far as I know, there is no reference spec indeed, except the code
from xdg-user-dirs tool.

Post by Thomas U. Grüttmüller
DESKTOP
*Some* file managers display this folder in the root window. Others, e.g.
ROX, don’t.

Some desktops (i.e. GNOME) don't even use this folder anymore since
they don't have a desktop anymore (except through plug-ins). I don't
regret it. That was just a place to put everything as a mess.
Though some people appreciate the concept to have ongoing projects for
instance visible in front of them all the time. I guess it's all a
matter of organization choices.

Post by Thomas U. Grüttmüller
TEMPLATES
This looks very useful. You can put file templates there. Each of them will
generate a menu item in the file manager like “New HTML file…”.

I personally never use it, but that's indeed how it is to be used AFAIK.

Post by Thomas U. Grüttmüller
DOWNLOAD
This folder is a dump where the web browser will put all sorts of downloaded
files. After a short time there will be total chaos. :-(

True. One of the first thing I configure in a browser is to ask me
where to download files every time. I don't want all in some random
place where I'll have to move files out after anyway. But well, I
guess some people may like it otherwise. Then it could as well be a
dedicated folder indeed.
So basically I don't really use this one.

Post by Thomas U. Grüttmüller
PUBLICSHARE
This looks interesting. Has it ever been implemented? It reminds me of the
public_html folder found in older distributions.

This is used in GNOME for instance and made very easy to use in
Natilus (i.e. GNOME Files). When you go inside ~/Public/, you get some
"Sharing Settings" buttons to enable sharing. I use it often to share
files in the local network.

Post by Thomas U. Grüttmüller
DOCUMENTS
The purpose is not obvious.

Well. "Documents" feels quite obvious to me. This is to save all kind
of "documents". :P
It is quite a generic term and I actually use it this way. Personally
my Documents/ folder is very organized with many sub-folders per
topic. Apart from some very specific files (music, videos…), most of
my files go in a subfolder of Documents/. I basically use it quite
similarly to how most people use $HOME. This allows my $HOME to stay
quite clean in the end.

Post by Thomas U. Grüttmüller
Gimp uses it as a default to save pictures; Anki
uses it to store its configuration files…

There have been many discussions on the best default folder in GIMP.
The main problem is that anyway people would likely have to change
their save folder anyway. Personally I have a few bookmarks for the
most common roots under which I will repeatitively save or load
things. So it doesn't matter much what is the default folder.
But in the end, there are no perfect choice since it will all depend
on each individual organization. So Documents feels as good as
another.

Post by Thomas U. Grüttmüller
MUSIC
PICTURES
VIDEOS
No program seems to use these folders. Their purpose is not obvious to me.

That's funny. These are the 3 folders which are the most obvious to me
in the whole list! I mean, their names are pretty self-explanatory,
no?
As for I, I use them to store what their name say: music, pictures and
videos. Also I am pretty sure they are commonly used by various
software.

Jehan

Post by Thomas U. Grüttmüller
Greetings,
Thomas
_______________________________________________
xdg mailing list
https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/xdg

[Thomas U. Grüttmüller]

Post by Jehan Pagès

Post by Thomas U. Grüttmüller
DOCUMENTS
The purpose is not obvious.

Well. "Documents" feels quite obvious to me. This is to save all kind
of "documents". :P
It is quite a generic term and I actually use it this way. Personally
my Documents/ folder is very organized with many sub-folders per
topic. Apart from some very specific files (music, videos…), most of
my files go in a subfolder of Documents/. I basically use it quite
similarly to how most people use $HOME. This allows my $HOME to stay
quite clean in the end.

That’s very vague.

Post by Jehan Pagès

Post by Thomas U. Grüttmüller
MUSIC
PICTURES
VIDEOS
No program seems to use these folders. Their purpose is not obvious to me.

That's funny. These are the 3 folders which are the most obvious to me
in the whole list! I mean, their names are pretty self-explanatory,
no?
As for I, I use them to store what their name say: music, pictures and
videos. Also I am pretty sure they are commonly used by various
software.

For each of those, I can think of four categories:

A) automatically saved files, such as screenshots, thumbnails, profile
pictures, example images, diagrams, webcam images etc.

B) downloaded, but manually reviewed and categorized files, i.e.
downloaded pictures, music, programs, movies, documentaries, manuals etc.

C) personal data, i.e. files that myself or a relative or friend has
worked on, i.e. my band’s music, home videos, my own drawings, family
pictures, letters etc.

D) archived files: files that should still be kept, but will propably
not change anymore, i.e. backups, completed or abandoned projects etc.


This should be clarified first, because it doesn’t make sense to mix
these categories.

Greetings,
Thomas