XDG Base Directory - Default System Configuration Directory Questions

[Will Donnelly]

I would like to thank you guys for the great work you do with your
specifications. I have several questions related to the Base Directory
specification. Firstly, I would like to know, is there some compelling
rationale behind making the default value of $XDG_DATA_DIRS equal to
"/etc/xdg"? While I agree with most of the other default locations listed,
this particular one just feels like a kind of rough edge to me. It seems
almost universally accepted that system-wide configuration files are placed
directly in "/etc" or in "/etc/<application>", and until I read the
specification it would never have occurred to me to even *consider* looking
in "/etc/xdg" for a program's configuration file. This default simply seems
distasteful to me, and I can easily see it being the kind of ugliness that
causes some developers to disregard that part of the spec, ultimately
weakening the document as a whole.
While bearing in mind the need for compatibility with programs which
currently conform to the specification, is there any possibility of seeing
the specification amended to add "/etc" as a valid default location
alongside "/etc/xdg"? Such a change would immediately make it much easier
for programs to be conforming, and as programs are instructed to deal with
multiple possible locations anyway, should not hinder the operation of
anything which stored its files in "/etc/xdg".

Finally, I am in the process of writing a few simple libraries to help
programs with some of the XDG specifications. In the absence of the above
suggested change, would it be acceptable to return both "/etc" and
"/etc/xdg" by default, and still call the library conformant?

Thank you for you help
- Will Donnelly
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