Default paths in Base Directory Specification

[Mark McLoughlin]

Hi Julio,

On Mon, 2004-09-13 at 15:05, Julio M. Merino Vidal wrote:

> IMVHO, that behavior is broken.  The programs should work after
> installation without
> having to mess with the environment.  In fact, they _can know_ where
> they got installed,
> so it's not a problem for them to access their own files.
> 
> It couldn't be much of a problem if the specification said that the
> default values for those
> variables are: the prefix where the program got installed, /usr/local
> and /usr.  For example,
> the following line:
> 
>     "If $XDG_DATA_DIRS is either not set or empty, a value equal to
>      /usr/local/share/:/usr/share/ should be used.
> 
> Should better say:
> 
>     "If $XDG_DATA_DIRS is either not set or empty, a value equal to
>      @PREFIX@/share:/usr/local/share/:/usr/share/ should be used.

	Wholeheartedly agree:

  http://freedesktop.org/pipermail/xdg/2004-May/thread.html#3949

	I fear this will end up as a FAQ ...

Cheers,
Mark.