xdg-portable
Determine XDG Base Directory paths (OS/platform portable)
Installation (CJS/ESM/TypeScript)
npm install xdg-portable
# or... `npm install "git:github.com/rivy/js.xdg-portable"`
# or... `npm install "git:github.com/rivy/js.xdg-portable#v10.6.0"`
# or... `npm install "https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rivy/js.xdg-portable@v10.6.0/dist/xdg-portable.tgz"`
# or... `npm install "https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rivy/js.xdg-portable@COMMIT_SHA/dist/xdg-portable.tgz"`
Usage
CommonJS (CJS)
const xdg = require('xdg-portable/cjs');
const configDirs = xdg.configDirs();
const stateDir = xdg.state();
const locatePath = require('locatePath');
const mkdirp = require('mkdirp');
const configDir = locatePath.sync(configDirs) || configDirs[0];
mkdirp.sync(configDir, 0o700);
mkdirp.sync(stateDir, 0o700);
ECMAScript (ESM)/TypeScript
import xdg from 'xdg-portable';
const configDirs = xdg.configDirs();
//...
Deno
import xdg from 'https://deno.land/x/xdg_portable@v10.6.0/src/mod.deno.ts';
//or (via CDN, [ie, JSDelivr with GitHub version/version-range, commit, 'latest' support])...
//import xdg from 'https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rivy/js.xdg-portable@v10.6.0/src/mod.deno.ts';
//import xdg from 'https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/rivy/js.xdg-portable@COMMIT_SHA/src/mod.deno.ts';
const configDirs = xdg.configDirs();
//...
API
Construction/Initialization
XDG()
const xdg = require('xdg-portable/cjs'); // CJS
//or...
//import xdg from 'xdg-portable'; // ESM/TypeScript
//import xdg from 'https://deno.land/x/xdg/src/mod.deno.ts'; // Deno
When importing this module, the object returned is a function object, XDG
, augmented with attached methods. Additional XDG
objects may be constructed by direct call of the imported XDG
object (eg, const x = xdg()
) or by using new
(eg, const x = new xdg()
). Notably, since the XDG
object contains no user-facing instance state, all XDG
objects will be functionally identical.
Types
XDG
~ primary module function object
Types named here are exported individually by name (eg, as “XDG”).
import type { XDG } from 'xdg-portable'; // TypeScript
//or...
//import type { XDG } from 'https://deno.land/x/xdg/src/mod.deno.ts'; // Deno
Methods
All module methods return platform-compatible path strings which are normalized and have no trailing path separators.
The returned path strings are not guaranteed to already exist on the file system. So, the user application is responsible for directory construction, if/when needed. If needed, make-dir
or mkdirp
can be used to create the directories.
xdg.cache(): string
- Returns the directory path for user-specific non-essential (ie, cached) data files.
Deletion of the data contained here might cause an application to slow down.
const cacheDir = xdg.cache();
//(mac)=> '/Users/rivy/Library/Caches'
//(nix)=> '/home/rivy/.cache'
//(win)=> 'C:\\Users\\rivy\\AppData\\Local\\xdg.cache'
This directory location would be analogous to /var/cache for *nix.
%LocalAppData%\xdg.cache
is the default for the windows platform.
xdg.config(): string
- Returns the directory path for user-specific configuration files.
Deletion of the data contained here might require the user to reconfigure an application.
const configDir = xdg.config();
//(mac)=> '/Users/rivy/Library/Preferences'
//(nix)=> '/home/rivy/.config'
//(win)=> 'C:\\Users\\rivy\\AppData\\Roaming\\xdg.config'
This directory location would be analogous to /etc for *nix.
%AppData%\xdg.config
is the default for the windows platform.
xdg.data(): string
- Returns directory path for user-specific data files.
Deletion of the data contained here might force the user to restore from backups.
const dataDir = xdg.data();
//(mac)=> '/Users/rivy/Library/Application Support'
//(nix)=> '/home/rivy/.local/share'
//(win)=> 'C:\\Users\\rivy\\AppData\\Roaming\\xdg.data'
This directory location would be analogous to /usr/share for *nix.
%AppData%\xdg.data
is the default for the windows platform.
xdg.runtime(): string?
- Returns the directory path for user-specific non-essential runtime files (such as sockets, named pipes, etc); may be
undefined
.
Deletion of the data contained here might interfere with a currently executing application but should have no effect on future executions.
const runtimeDir = xdg.runtime();
The XDG specification defines some fairly strict specifications for a “runtime”-data candidate directory. To meet these criteria, the directory must usually be supplied by the OS. The user may override this by using the XDG_RUNTIME_DIR
environment variable.
undefined
is the default for the windows platform.
xdg.state(): string
- Returns the directory path for user-specific state files (non-essential and more volatile than configuration files).
Deletion of the data contained here should not materially interfere with execution of an application.
const stateDir = xdg.state();
//(mac)=> '/Users/rivy/Library/State'
//(nix)=> '/home/rivy/.local/state'
//(win)=> 'C:\\Users\\rivy\\AppData\\Local\\xdg.state'
This directory location might hold data such as backups, input history, logs, recent file lists, visual application state, etc.
%LocalAppData%\xdg.state
is the default for the windows platform.
xdg.configDirs(): readonly string[]
- Returns a preference-ordered array of base directory paths to search for configuration files (includes
xdg.config()
directory as first entry).
const configDirs = xdg.configDirs();
//(mac)=> [ '/Users/rivy/Library/Preferences', ... ]
//(nix)=> [ '/home/rivy/.config', ... ]
//(win)=> [ 'C:\\Users\\rivy\\AppData\\Roaming\\xdg.config' , ... ]
xdg.dataDirs(): readonly string[]
- Returns a preference-ordered array of base directory paths to search for data files (includes
xdg.data()
directory as first entry).
const dataDirs = xdg.dataDirs();
//(mac)=> [ '/Users/rivy/Library/Application Support', ... ]
//(nix)=> [ '/home/rivy/.local/share', ... ]
//(win)=> [ 'C:\\Users\\rivy\\AppData\\Roaming\\xdg.share' , ... ]
Supported Platforms
NodeJS
Requirements
NodeJS >= 4.01
*.js
and *.cjs
)
CommonJS modules (CJS; CJS is the basic supported output (with support for NodeJS versions as early as NodeJS-v4).
const xdg = require('xdg-portable/cjs');
console.log(xdg.config());
Note: for CJS,
require('xdg-portable')
is supported for backward-compatibility and will execute correctly at run-time. However,require('xdg-portable')
links to the default package type declarations which, though correct for Deno/ESM/TypeScript, are incorrect for CJS. This, then, leads to incorrect analysis of CJS files by static analysis tools such as TypeScript and Intellisense.Using
require('xdg-portable/cjs')
is preferred as it associates the proper CJS type declarations and provides correct information to static analysis tools.
*.mjs
)
ECMAScript modules (ESM; - Requires
XDG
v8.0
+.
XDG
fully supports ESM imports.
import xdg from 'xdg-portable';
console.log(xdg.config());
*.ts
)
TypeScript (- Requires
XDG
v8.0
+.
As of v8.0
+, XDG
has been converted to a TypeScript-based module.
As a consequence, TypeScript type definitions are automatically generated, bundled, and exported by the module.
Deno
Requirements
Deno >= v1.8.02
Required Permissions
--allow-env
· allow access to the process environment variables
This module/package requires access to various environment variables to determine platform configuration (eg, location of temp and user directories).
- Requires
XDG
v9.0
+.
XDG
also fully supports use by Deno.
import xdg from 'https://deno.land/x/xdg/src/mod.deno.ts';
console.log(xdg.config());
Discussion
The XDG Base Directory SpecificationÂ@ defines categories of user information (ie, “cache”, “config”, “data”, …), defines their standard storage locations, and defines the standard process for user configuration of those locations (using XDG_CACHE_HOME
, etc).
Applications supporting the XDG convention are expected to store user-specific files within these locations, either within the common/shared directory (eg, `${xdg.cache()}/filename`
) or within a more isolated application-defined subdirectory (eg, `${xdg.config()}/DIR/filename`
; DIR
usually being the application name).
Windows (“win32”) specific notes
Windows has an alternate convention, offering just two standard locations for applications to persist data, either %APPDATA%
(for files which may “roam” with the user between hosts) and %LOCALAPPDATA%
(for local-machine-only files). All application files are expected to be stored within an application-unique subdirectory in one of those two locations, usually under a directory matching the application name. There is no further popular convention used to segregate the file types (ie, into “cache”, “config”, …) in any way similar to the XDG specification.
So, to support basic XDG-like behavior (that is, segregating the information types into type-specific directories), this module creates a new convention for Windows hosts, placing the specific types of files into subdirectories under either %APPDATA%
or %LOCALAPPDATA%
, as appropriate for the file type. For example, “cache”-type files will be offered placement into %LOCALAPPDATA%\xdg.cache
, “config”-type files into %APPDATA%\xdg.config
, “data”-type files into %APPDATA%\xdg.data
, etc.
xdg-app-paths
builds on this module and offers application specific paths more in-line with usual platform conventions, but still compatible with the XDG specification.
Fallback to temporary directory
In the uncommon case that both the XDG environment variable is not set and the users home directory can’t be determined, the temporary directory (OS/platform specific; determined by temp()
from os-paths) will be used as a fallback for the missing home directory value.
Origins
This module was forked from sindresorhus/xdg-basedir in order to add cross-platform portability and support simpler cross-platform applications.
Building and Contributing
Build requirements
optional
bmp
(v0.0.6+) … synchronizes version strings within the projectgit-changelog
(v1.1+) … enables changelog automation
Quick build/test
npm install-test
Contributions/development
Reproducible setup (for CI or local development)
git clone "https://github.com/rivy/js.xdg-portable"
cd js.xdg-portable
# * note: for WinOS, replace `cp` with `copy` (or use [uutils](https://github.com/uutils/coreutils))
# npm
cp .deps-lock/package-lock.json .
npm clean-install
# yarn
cp .deps-lock/yarn.lock .
yarn --immutable --immutable-cache --check-cache
Project development scripts
> npm run help
...
usage: `npm run TARGET` or `npx run-s TARGET [TARGET..]`
TARGETs:
build build/compile package
clean remove build artifacts
coverage calculate and display (or send) code coverage [alias: 'cov']
fix fix package issues (automated/non-interactive)
fix:lint fix ESLint issues
fix:style fix Prettier formatting issues
help display help
lint check for package code 'lint'
lint:audit check for `npm audit` violations in project code
lint:commits check for commit flaws (using `commitlint` and `cspell`)
lint:editorconfig check for EditorConfig format flaws (using `editorconfig-checker`)
lint:lint check for code 'lint' (using `eslint`)
lint:markdown check for markdown errors (using `remark`)
lint:spell check for spelling errors (using `cspell`)
lint:style check for format imperfections (using `prettier`)
prerelease clean, rebuild, and fully test (useful prior to publish/release)
realclean remove all generated files
rebuild clean and (re-)build project
refresh clean and rebuild/regenerate all project artifacts
refresh:dist clean, rebuild, and regenerate project distribution
retest clean and (re-)test project
reset:hard remove *all* generated files and reinstall dependencies
show:deps show package dependencies
test test package
test:code test package code (use `--test-code=...` to pass options to testing harness)
test:types test for type declaration errors (using `tsd`)
update update/prepare for distribution [alias: 'dist']
update:changelog update CHANGELOG (using `git changelog ...`)
update:dist update distribution content
verify fully (and verbosely) test package
Packaging & Publishing
Package
#=== * POSIX
# update project VERSION strings (package.json,...)
# * `bmp --[major|minor|patch]`; next VERSION in M.m.r (semver) format
bmp --minor
VERSION=$(cat VERSION)
git-changelog --next-tag "v${VERSION}" > CHANGELOG.mkd
# create/commit updates and distribution
git add package.json CHANGELOG.mkd README.md VERSION .bmp.yml
git commit -m "${VERSION}"
npm run clean && npm run update:dist && git add dist && git commit --amend --no-edit
# (optional) update/save dependency locks
# * note: `yarn import` of 'package-lock.json' (when available) is faster but may not work for later versions of 'package-lock.json'
rm -f package-lock.json yarn.lock
npm install --package-lock
yarn install
mkdir .deps-lock 2> /dev/null
cp package-lock.json .deps-lock/
cp yarn.lock .deps-lock/
git add .deps-lock
git commit --amend --no-edit
# tag VERSION commit
git tag -f "v${VERSION}"
# (optional) prerelease checkup
npm run prerelease
#=== * WinOS
@rem # update project VERSION strings (package.json,...)
@rem # * `bmp --[major|minor|patch]`; next VERSION in M.m.r (semver) format
bmp --minor
for /f %G in (VERSION) do @set "VERSION=%G"
git-changelog --next-tag "v%VERSION%" > CHANGELOG.mkd
@rem # create/commit updates and distribution
git add package.json CHANGELOG.mkd README.md VERSION .bmp.yml
git commit -m "%VERSION%"
npm run clean && npm run update:dist && git add dist && git commit --amend --no-edit
@rem # (optional) update/save dependency locks
@rem # * note: `yarn import` of 'package-lock.json' (when available) is faster but may not work for later versions of 'package-lock.json'
del package-lock.json yarn.lock 2>NUL
npm install --package-lock
yarn install
mkdir .deps-lock 2>NUL
copy /y package-lock.json .deps-lock >NUL
copy /y yarn.lock .deps-lock >NUL
git add .deps-lock
git commit --amend --no-edit
@rem # tag VERSION commit
git tag -f "v%VERSION%"
@rem # (optional) prerelease checkup
npm run prerelease
Publish
# publish
# * optional (will be done in 'prePublishOnly' by `npm publish`)
npm run clean && npm run test && npm run dist && git-changelog > CHANGELOG.mkd #expect exit code == 0
git diff-index --quiet HEAD || echo "[lint] ERROR uncommitted changes" # expect no output and exit code == 0
# *
npm publish # `npm publish --dry-run` will perform all prepublication actions and stop just before the actual publish push
# * if published to NPMjs with no ERRORs; push to deno.land with tag push
git push origin --tags
Contributions
Contributions are welcome.
Any pull requests should be based off of the default branch (master
). And, whenever possible, please include tests for any new code, ensuring that local (via npm test
) and remote CI testing passes.
By contributing to the project, you are agreeing to provide your contributions under the same license as the project itself.
Related
os-paths
… portable common OS/platform paths (home, temp, …)xdg-app-paths
… easy XDG for applicationsxdg-basedir
… inspiration for this module
License
MIT © Roy Ivy III
Footnotes
-
With the conversion to a TypeScript-based project, due to tooling constraints, building and testing are more difficult and more limited on Node platforms earlier than NodeJS-v10. However, the generated CommonJS/UMD project code is fully tested (for NodeJS-v10+) and continues to be compatible with NodeJS-v4+. ↩
-
The
Deno.permissions
API (stabilized in Deno v1.8.0) is required to avoid needless panics or prompts by Deno during static imports of this module/package. Note: Deno v1.3.0+ may be used if the run flag--unstable
is also used. ↩