XDG_CONFIG_DIRS an /usr/local/etc/xdg

[David Faure]

On jeudi 16 septembre 2021 18:48:41 CEST Peter White wrote:
> But, /etc should be off limits for software in /usr/local, right?

I don't think this assessment is correct.

For instance, I certainly expect KDE software installed in any prefix, to 
respect the global settings in /etc/xdg/kdeglobals

That file has things like default fonts which should apply to all KDE 
applications, they should apply whatever the install prefix is, for a more 
consistent user experience.

XDG_CONFIG_DIRS was modeled very much after XDG_DATA_DIRS,
where I would have tons of other examples like: apps in /usr/local or anywhere 
else should still see /usr/share, for e.g. /usr/share/mime which has the 
mimetype definitions.

And yes, the intent is definitely that they should be read at runtime,
so that [advanced] users can install things in custom prefixes and make things 
work by setting a few env vars.

What it seems to me, is that /usr/local/etc/xdg should simply be added to the 
default value for XDG_CONFIG_DIRS. It's inconsistent that XDG_DATA_DIRS
defaults to /usr/local/share:/usr/share while XDG_CONFIG_DIRS defaults to only 
/etc/xdg instead of /usr/local/etc/xdg:/etc/xdg

-- 
David Faure, faure at kde.org, http://www.davidfaure.fr
Working on KDE Frameworks 5