Equivalents of XDG_CONFIG_HOME and XDG_DATA_HOME on Mac OS X?

Question

I am planning to develop a cross-platform script. On Linux and other operating systems, it will store configuration in XDG_CONFIG_HOME and data files (specifically, downloaded plugins) in XDG_DATA_HOME. On Windows, it will use APPDATA for both (unless someone has a better idea). However, what would be the proper thing to do on Mac OS X?

On my first glance through a handy Macbook's ~/Library directory, I saw Preferences and Application Support folders. I was originally planning to use those, but Preferences seems to just contain plists with reverse domain names like com.apple.foo.bar.baz.plist, and every folder in Application Support corresponds to a bundle in /Applications, so I'm not sure how well the system would react to files that don't match its standards. Storing them directly in ~/Library might be an option, but I don't want to pollute it with a stray myscript.conf file if there's a better place for it.

Where should I store these files? (And please don't say just ~/.myscript. I know it's the Unix tradition, but it annoys me to see random dotfiles in the home directory.)

Answer 1

I would use ~/Library/Application Support/script_name/. The subdirectories inside Application Support are used conventionally by various apps, including Apple's own softwares. But it's not enforced by the OS and not tied to apps inside /Applications. So you're perfectly free to create your own directory in it.

For the directory structure of OS X in general, see this Apple document.

Answer 2

Comparing Apple's documentation for the various paths to the XDG Base Directory specifications approximates to the following locations:

• XDG_CONFIG_HOME ▶︎ ~/Library/Preferences/
• XDG_DATA_HOME ▶︎ ~/Library/
• XDG_CACHE_HOME ▶︎ ~/Library/Caches/

Mapping XDG Base Directory Specification locations for "My App" on Mac OS X could look like this:

• XDG_CONFIG_HOME ▶︎ ~/Library/Preferences/name.often.with.domain.myapp.plist
• XDG_DATA_HOME ▶︎ ~/Library/My App/
• XDG_CACHE_HOME ▶︎ ~/Library/Caches/My App/

These mappings seem pretty reasonable but they aren't exact. Some kinds of cache or data may be appropriate for ~/Library/Application Support/My App, and other may be best in the temp locations or the App bundle. All of it is by convention and the same reasons for using the best XDG_ locations apply to using the best locations on the Mac OS X system.

Your annoyance at ~/.myscript is in line with Apple's guidelines: "Don't pollute user space".

References:

• Mac OS X Reference Library: Where to Put Application Files
• Mac OS X Reference Library: Important Java Directories on Mac OS X

Answer 3

I agree with OJFord's comment: if you are writing a script, simply follow the XDG Base Directory would be better.

Rationales:

1. Names in XDG_CONFIG_HOME are typically small-case bare-names like git; the ones in ~/Library/Preferences/ are typically scoped with reversed domain names like com.apple.foo-bar, or first-letter-capital space-delimited names like Foo Bar.
2. GUI applications have been following macOS conventions when they are placed in /Applications. You don't place your script in /Applications; you place them in UNIX-specific directorys. Better to be consistent.
3. ~/Library/Preferences/ is full of .plists. No cross-platform script that I know is using property lists.
4. Users may want to sync cross-platform configuration and macOS-only one separately.

For example, Git places their config file in XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/config, not in ~/Library/Preferences/Git/config. Makes sense to me.

note

I made the point only for configuration files ($XDG_CONFIG_HOME) and data files ($XDG_DATA_HOME); for cache files it gets subtle. According to How-To Geek, ~/Library/Caches directory is excluded from Time Machine by default. I don’t care about cache folder since I back up neither directories anyway.