Re:Dotfile Madness
by delta_p_delta_x on Monday October 24, 2022 @05:13AM
(#33314416)
It kind of goes around to the same point: developers are sloppy and assume that ~ or %USERPROFILE% has full read-write permissions, and treat the corresponding home directories as a free-for-all dumping ground.
This is really the problem with the home directory. It’s supposed to be the place where the user puts their files, but it’s also a place where applications put their files, usually without asking the user.
The battle is lost - the home directory territory should be ceded to applications and the user should have a separate space in which to manage their files.
This can sort of be achieved with the $XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable, but not all software respects it, so in practical terms it’s a lot easier just to leave $HOME to be the application config dumping ground.