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Idea #2647: Standardise User caches location

bug This idea is a duplicate of Idea #1210: Standardise the Configuration directories. .
Written by Auzy the 3 Mar 08 at 03:16. Category: System. Related project: Nothing/Others. Status: New
Rationale
At the moment caches for various programs are scattered all over the home directory. We should change the defaults to store them all in a centralised cache directory, so they are easy to clean up.

ie.
-- Java cache ('~/.java/deployment/cache').
-- Flash cache ('~/macromedia/Flash_Player' or '~/adobe/Flash_Player').
-- Evolution cache ('~/.evolution/cache')
-- OpenOffice ('~/.openoffice.org2/user/temp')

should be:
-- Java cache ('~/caches/com.sun.java/deployment/cache').
-- Flash cache ('~/caches/com.macromedia.Flash_Player')
-- Evolution cache ('~/caches/com.ximian.evolution/cache')
-- OpenOffice ('~/caches/org.openoffice.openoffice2/user/temp')


This is a modification of idea http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/2645/ (and I borrowed some of the example directories). They can both suppliment each other
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199
votes
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #2647
Written by Auzy the 3 Mar 08 at 03:16.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #2647 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

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Comments
theosib wrote on the 3 Mar 08 at 03:22
This is almost too sensible for Ubuntu.


Auzy wrote on the 3 Mar 08 at 03:25
You are right theo, vote down y'all.

I should add that OSX does this, and its helpful because the OSX caches are constantly getting corrupt and you start getting dodgy icons and stuff. Deleting the caches in OSX often fixes issues. Maybe Making them centralised may make it easier to fix random issues in Ubuntu too..

It depends how you look at it though. The issue is that it makes as much sense to keep them in their logical directory too

mp3phish wrote on the 3 Mar 08 at 04:48
Also please see my idea brainstorm which accounts for this problem. We should not only clean up the cache directories, but all temp directories and settings hidden files in the home directory:

http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/2651/

JoeLeKiffeur wrote on the 3 Mar 08 at 12:01
Yes, It'll avoid to use the CTRL+H shortcut.

ebrahim wrote on the 3 Mar 08 at 20:10
Stop using this awful Java naming convention!

Auzy wrote on the 4 Mar 08 at 00:12
Theres a good reason for the naming convention (and oddly enough, it was not invented by Sun).

It makes programs unique, and keeps all the gnome programs next to each other, when sorted by name, etc.

pturing wrote on the 12 Mar 08 at 20:16
should be
~/.caches/
not
~/caches/

Non-hidden files should not appear in your home directory unless you put them there.

Other than that, it is a cool idea.


This should be done at the freedesktop.org level

Eldmannen wrote on the 25 Mar 08 at 19:06
This is a extremely good idea.

Makes it very easy to clean caches, ensure privacy, etc.

wladston wrote on the 7 Apr 08 at 07:24
PLEEEZZZ make this one come true!!! ++1!

boga wrote on the 1 Jun 08 at 13:01
I think this should be extended to all user-specific volatile data including caches, thumbnails, search indices, logs, the weird stuff from ~/.metacity/sessions, etc which is scattered all over the ~ directory now. The directory name could be like ~/.var
For proprietary programs that can't be fixed (Java, Flash) a symlink from their volatile data subdirectory to the ~/.var directory can be used to partially fix it.
A volatile user-specific data manager could be created to purge say files older than certain age or until a certain amount of disk space is freed.
This could significatly improve user account management, free space management and backup management (now one has to spend a long time inspecting the hidden subdirectories in ~ to find out which of them should be excluded in order not to clutter and swell a backup).

ebrahim wrote on the 3 Jun 08 at 20:24
Have you ever seen KDE?!
It stores almost all of its files in ~/.kde in a good hierarchy.

Auzy wrote on the 4 Jun 08 at 01:41
Actually, this idea came from OSX. Occassionally in OSX the cache gets corrupted and weird stuff happens. This allows a centralised location to wipe it all at once (like in OSX), so that it is easier to fix.


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