@folder/xdg

Get cross-platform XDG Base Directories or their equivalents. Works with Linux, Windows (win32), or MacOS (darwin).

Please consider following this project's author, Jon Schlinkert, and consider starring the project to show your ❤️ and support.

Install

Install with npm:

$ npm install --save @folder/xdg

Usage

Add the following line of code to your Node.js application:

const xdg = require('@folder/xdg');

The main export is a function that may be called with an options object:

const dirs = xdg(/* options */);
console.log(dirs);

/* This output is on MacOS, see examples for Linux and Windows below */
console.log(dirs.config); // => '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Preferences'
console.log(dirs.cache); // => '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Caches'
console.log(dirs.data); // => '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Application Support'

See example output by platform.

Options

Click to see all available options

The following options are available for customizing behavior and/or testing behavior.

Option	Type	Description	Default Value
cachedir	string	Override the default cachedir	Platform specific, see below
configdir	string	Override the default configdir
datadir	string	Override the default datadir
env	object	The env object to use for getting paths.	process.env
expanded	boolean	Expand paths into an object. See the Expanded Paths example for more details.	undefined
homedir	string	The user's home directory.	os.homedir()
platform	string	The platform to use: darwin, linux, win32	process.platform
resolve	function	Custom function for resolving paths to each directory. The default function attempts to respect casing in the user's existing directories.	undefined
runtimedir	string	Override the default runtimedir
subdir	string	A sub-directory to join to the path, typically the name of your application. This path is joined differently on each platform. See examples.	xdg
tempdir	string	The temp directory to use.	os.tmpdir()

See examples below.

Examples

Click to see example for platform-specific paths

Get paths for a specific platform.

console.log(xdg.darwin());
console.log(xdg.linux());
console.log(xdg.win32());
// or, if you want "expanded" paths (see the "expanded paths" example)
console.log(xdg({ expanded: true, platform: 'darwin' }));
console.log(xdg({ expanded: true, platform: 'linux' }));
console.log(xdg({ expanded: true, platform: 'win32' }));

Click to see example with no options

The following examples show what the paths look like when no options are passed.

console.log(xdg());

MacOS (darwin)

{
  cache: '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Caches/xdg',
  config: '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Preferences/xdg',
  configdirs: [ '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Preferences/xdg', '/etc/xdg' ],
  data: '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Application Support/xdg',
  datadirs: [
    '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Application Support/xdg',
    '/usr/local/share/',
    '/usr/share/'
  ],
  runtime: '/var/folders/vd/53h736bj0_sg9gk04c89k0pr0000gq/T/xdg'
}

Linux

{
  cache: '/Users/jonschlinkert/.cache/xdg',
  config: '/Users/jonschlinkert/.config/xdg',
  configdirs: [ '/Users/jonschlinkert/.config/xdg', '/etc/xdg' ],
  data: '/Users/jonschlinkert/.local/share/xdg',
  datadirs: [
    '/Users/jonschlinkert/.local/share/xdg',
    '/usr/local/share/',
    '/usr/share/'
  ],
  runtime: '/var/folders/vd/53h736bj0_sg9gk04c89k0pr0000gq/T/xdg'
}

Windows (win32)

{
  cache: '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Local/xdg/Cache',
  config: '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Roaming/xdg/Config',
  configdirs: [ '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Roaming/xdg/Config' ],
  data: '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Local/xdg/Data',
  datadirs: [ '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Local/xdg/Data' ],
  runtime: '/var/folders/vd/53h736bj0_sg9gk04c89k0pr0000gq/T/xdg'
}

Click to see "expanded" paths example

Running the following example returns an object with "expanded" paths, where `config` and `configdirs` are converted to `config.home` and `config.dirs`, etc. Additionally, `cwd`, `home` and `temp` paths are added for convenience.

console.log(xdg({ expanded: true, subdir: 'FooBar' }));

Extra directories

Note that the expanded object includes four additional path properties for convenience:

• cwd - set via options.cwd or process.cwd()
• home - set via options.homedir or os.homedir()
• temp - set via options.tempdir or os.tmpdir()
• cache.logs - set at path.join(cachedir, 'logs')

MacOS (darwin)

{
  cwd: '/Users/jonschlinkert/dev/@folder/xdg',
  home: '/Users/jonschlinkert',
  temp: '/var/folders/vd/53h736bj0_sg9gk04c89k0pr0000gq/T',
  cache: { 
    home: '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Caches/FooBar',
    logs: '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Caches/FooBar/Logs' 
  },
  config: {
    home: '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Preferences/FooBar',
    dirs: [ '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Preferences/FooBar', '/etc/FooBar' ]
  },
  data: {
    home: '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Application Support/FooBar',
    dirs: [
      '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Application Support/FooBar',
      '/usr/local/share/',
      '/usr/share/'
    ]
  },
  runtime: { home: '/var/folders/vd/53h736bj0_sg9gk04c89k0pr0000gq/T/FooBar' }
}

Linux

{
  cwd: '/Users/jonschlinkert/dev/@folder/xdg',
  home: '/Users/jonschlinkert',
  temp: '/var/folders/vd/53h736bj0_sg9gk04c89k0pr0000gq/T',
  cache: { 
    home: '/Users/jonschlinkert/.cache/FooBar',
    logs: '/Users/jonschlinkert/.cache/FooBar/Logs'
  },
  config: {
    home: '/Users/jonschlinkert/.config/FooBar',
    dirs: [ '/Users/jonschlinkert/.config/FooBar', '/etc/FooBar' ]
  },
  data: {
    home: '/Users/jonschlinkert/.local/share/FooBar',
    dirs: [
      '/Users/jonschlinkert/.local/share/FooBar',
      '/usr/local/share/',
      '/usr/share/'
    ]
  },
  runtime: { home: '/var/folders/vd/53h736bj0_sg9gk04c89k0pr0000gq/T/FooBar' }
}

Windows (win32)

{
  cwd: '/Users/jonschlinkert/dev/@folder/xdg',
  home: '/Users/jonschlinkert',
  temp: '/var/folders/vd/53h736bj0_sg9gk04c89k0pr0000gq/T',
  cache: { 
    home: '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Local/FooBar/Cache',
    logs: '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Local/FooBar/Cache/Logs'
  },
  config: {
    home: '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Roaming/FooBar/Config',
    dirs: [ '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Roaming/FooBar/Config' ]
  },
  data: {
    home: '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Local/FooBar/Data',
    dirs: [ '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Local/FooBar/Data' ]
  },
  runtime: { home: '/var/folders/vd/53h736bj0_sg9gk04c89k0pr0000gq/T/FooBar' }
}

API

Aside from the main export, xdg(), several platform-specific methods are exposed to simplify getting paths for specific platforms. Note that you can accomplish the same thing by passing the platform on the options to the main export, e.g. { platform: 'linux' }.

The main export, and each method, returns an object with the following properties (see the XDG Base Directories docs below for more details on how each property is set):

• cache
• config
• configdirs
• data
• datadirs
• runtime

Main Export

xdg

Get the XDG Base Directory paths for Linux, or equivalent paths for Windows or MaxOS.

Params

• options {Object}
• returns {Object}: Returns an object of paths for the current platform.

.darwin

Get XDG equivalent paths for MacOS. Used by the main export when process.platform is darwin. Aliased as xdg.macos().

Params

• options {Object}
• returns {Object}: Returns an object of paths.

Example

const dirs = xdg.darwin();
// or
const dirs = xdg.macos();

.linux

Get XDG equivalent paths for Linux. Used by the main export when process.platform is linux.

• returns {Object}: Returns an object of paths.
• returns {Object}: Returns an object of paths.

Example

const dirs = xdg.linux();

.win32

Get XDG equivalent paths for MacOS. Used by the main export when process.platform is win32. Aliased as xdg.windows().

Params

• options {Object}
• returns {Object}: Returns an object of paths.

Example

const dirs = xdg.win32();
// or
const dirs = xdg.windows();

XDG Base Directories

This documentation is from the Arch Linux XDG Base Directory docs.

User directories

• XDG_CONFIG_HOME

  • Where user-specific configurations should be written (analogous to /etc).
  • Should default to $HOME/.config.

• XDG_CACHE_HOME

  • Where user-specific non-essential (cached) data should be written (analogous to /var/cache).
  • Should default to $HOME/.cache.

• XDG_DATA_HOME

  • Where user-specific data files should be written (analogous to /usr/share).
  • Should default to $HOME/.local/share.

• XDG_RUNTIME_DIR

  • Used for non-essential, user-specific data files such as sockets, named pipes, etc.
  • Not required to have a default value; warnings should be issued if not set or equivalents provided.
  • Must be owned by the user with an access mode of 0700.
  • Filesystem fully featured by standards of OS.
  • Must be on the local filesystem.
  • May be subject to periodic cleanup.
  • Modified every 6 hours or set sticky bit if persistence is desired.
  • Can only exist for the duration of the user's login.
  • Should not store large files as it may be mounted as a tmpfs.

System directories

• XDG_DATA_DIRS

  • List of directories seperated by : (analogous to PATH).
  • Should default to /usr/local/share:/usr/share.

• XDG_CONFIG_DIRS

  • List of directories seperated by : (analogous to PATH).
  • Should default to /etc/xdg.

About

Contributing

Pull requests and stars are always welcome. For bugs and feature requests, please create an issue.

Running Tests

Running and reviewing unit tests is a great way to get familiarized with a library and its API. You can install dependencies and run tests with the following command:

$ npm install && npm test

Building docs

(This project's readme.md is generated by verb, please don't edit the readme directly. Any changes to the readme must be made in the .verb.md readme template.)

To generate the readme, run the following command:

$ npm install -g verbose/verb#dev verb-generate-readme && verb

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Author

Jon Schlinkert

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License

Copyright © 2023, Jon Schlinkert. Released under the MIT License.

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This file was generated by verb-generate-readme, v0.8.0, on July 24, 2023.