~bzr-pqm/bzr/bzr.dev

Transitioning Unix installs to the XDG Base Directory Specification

===================================================================

Currently, Bazaar stores its configuration files and plugins under the

directory ~/.bazaar on unix installs.  On Windows, this is

%APPDATA%/Bazaar/2.0 and on Mac OS X, the directory is ~/.bazaar.  With the

XDG Base Directory specification

(http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html), many

Linux and Unix platforms have tried to centralize configuration files under a

specific directory referred to as $XDG_CONFIG_HOME.  This has a default value

of ~/.config.

Bazaar would like to be a good Unix citizen by using these standard locations

for configuration files.  As such, we should support that location, but not

require it.  Note that the following descriptions do not apply

to Windows or Mac OS X which should use their own native configuration

locations.  (On Windows, we currently do this by working under %APPDATA%.  The

Mac OS X equivalent would be ~/Library/Application Support/Bazaar but there is

also cultural support for ~/.bazaar on that platform.)

* If $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/bazaar exists, use the files there for configuration,

  noting in the log that we are doing so.  This allows individuals who would

  like to use the XDG specification to do so.

* Due to a lack of consensus on where plugins should live under the XDG Base

  Directory spec, continue to look for plugins in ~/.bazaar/plugins.  To

  change this directory to something not under ~/.bazaar, use the environment

  variable $BZR_PLUGIN_PATH.