XDG is a set of specifications that provide a standard for the organization of user-specific files and directories. It is based on the XDG Base Directory Specification.
$XDG_BIN_HOME defines directory that contains local binaries.
User-specific executable files may be stored in $HOME/.local/bin.
Distributions should ensure this directory shows up in the UNIX $PATH
environment variable, at an appropriate place.
$XDG_DATA_HOME defines the base directory relative to which
user-specific data files should be stored.
If $XDG_DATA_HOME is either not set or empty,
a default equal to $HOME/.local/share should be used.
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME defines the base directory relative to which
user-specific configuration files should be stored.
If $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is either not set or empty,
a default equal to $HOME/.config should be used.
$XDG_STATE_HOME defines the base directory relative to which
user-specific state files should be stored.
If $XDG_STATE_HOME is either not set or empty,
a default equal to $HOME/.local/state should be used.
The $XDG_STATE_HOME contains state data that should
persist between (application) restarts, but that is not important or
portable enough to the user that it should be stored in $XDG_DATA_HOME.
- It may contain:
- actions history (logs, history, recently used files, …)
- current state of the application that can be reused on a restart (view, layout, open files, undo history, …)
$XDG_DATA_DIRS defines the preference-ordered set of base directories
to search for data files in addition to the $XDG_DATA_HOME base directory.
The directories in $XDG_DATA_DIRS should be separated with a colon ':'.