XDG base directories and trash outside $HOME device

[Maurício Antunes]

>> Oh, I was so happy when I realized I could get rid of all
>> those directories that kept popping from time to time just by
>> pointing all of XDG_* to somewhere inside $(mktemp -d). Please
>> don't take that from me!

> What's the use case for not being able save configuration at
> all, from one run to the next?

Configuration files quickly become bloated by settings I do not
want. Those configurations I do want I set with gsettings, in
an initialization script which is kept synchronized everywhere
I go through a git repository:

    gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences audible-bell false
    gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.icon-view captions 
[\'mime_type\',\'permissions\',\'size\']
    gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.list-view default-column-order 
[\'name\',\'mime_type\',\'permissions\',\'size\']
    gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.list-view default-visible-columns 
[\'name\',\'mime_type\',\'permissions\',\'size\']
    gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.list-view use-tree-view true
    etc.

This also allows me to experiment freely with configuration,
knowing in advance that everything will be reset after my next
logging in.

I don't think the designers of the base dir spec expected
users to behave that way. It would be nice if someone who
participated in the process could write a rationale. Most of
the discussion goes back to the first years of the last decade,
and I found it difficult to try to figure out the reasons
behind most decisions just by reading this list archives.

Best,
Maurício