Respect XDG environment variables

[Paul Westell <pwestell shawlink ca>]

> mc 4.8.1 start to use XDG specification to place their preferences files. But
> why mc don't use XDG environment variables XDG_DATA_HOME, XDG_CACHE_HOME,
> XDG_CONFIG_HOME? These variables intended for overlapping default locations. I
> don't like ".cache", ".config" and similar directly at home directory, so I
> had have done a patch, whcih respect XDG_* environment variables. Use g_getenv
> from glib.

These XDG* variables have to point somewhere in the user's home directory 
anyway don't they? Systems can differ widely in structure, but where else can 
write permissions be _guaranteed_ for any given user accross distributions? It 
appears you are just assigning new names to the default resources, but all 
must still be in $HOME.

If MC is expected to write to XDG dirctories in common with other XDG 
compliant programs, will MC need some sort of rewrite so that entries for 
<data>, <home>, and <cache>, conform to the format and structure expected by XDG?

Your patch also appears to allow the possibility that MC will have two 
independant resource structures for each user. One used when MC is initiated 
from the command-line, and another (possibly concurrent) when initiated from 
within GUI. Duplication is not always a bad thing, but how is /this/ an asset?

If your real objection is to dot-files and dot-directories, perhaps a more 
general patch with no reference to XDG would be productive.

Personally, I would like to see a patch that forces XDG and all its 
misbegotten ilk to conform to system defaults first.


________________________________________________
Paul

 ... on an island, somewhere in the Pacific ...