Idea
#6557: Separate user preferences and user data in hidden folder
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292
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Written by ploum the 7 Apr 08 at 08:03.
Category: Others.
Related to:
Nothing/Others.
Status: New
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Description
When keeping the same /home/ for years, it quickly becomes an unmaintainable mess of hidden folders.
You can't even delete them without being sure because it might contain important data.
Freedesktop has issued a recommandation to solve this problem :
http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/latest/ar01s03.html
Implementing this would allow to easily reset your configuration to the default one without loosing any data. For Ubuntu beta testers or people that care about having the default config, it would be a big advantage. It would also solve a lot of upgrade problems that some people have and that cannot be reproduced because it's a particular preference migration bug.
The problem and its solution is described here for the GNOME desktop but it applies for any application : http://ploum.frimouvy.org/?184-cleaning-user-preferences-keeping-user-data
My suggestion is to make the FD.o recommandation an official Ubuntu recommandation, trying to lobby so applications in Ubuntu follow this spec, at least the one in main.
A suggestion for the GNOME desktop has also been issued :
http://live.gnome.org/GnomeGoals/XDGConfigFolders
Tags:
(none)
Attachments
Duplicates
Comments
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Eldmannen wrote on the 7 Apr 08 at 14:16
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I strongly agree.
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wleoncio wrote on the 7 Apr 08 at 19:47
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Me too. I use Ubuntu (and Linux) since 2006 and my home folder is already cluttered with hidden folders and files. Sometimes I manage to successfully erase something without messing anything up, but it is still a risky attempt.
Anyway, I don't see this being a priority for the development team, although I think it is a good idea. :)
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mp3phish wrote on the 8 Apr 08 at 01:48
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I strongly agree. I posted this idea before but it was mistakenly called a duplicate to another unrelated idea. I hope this one doesn't suffer the same fat (I think some ppl on brainstorm are against this idea and are marking it as a duplicate too often)
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 saivann (Moderator) wrote on the 9 Apr 08 at 01:40
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I set this idea as a duplicate of idea 1210. Since your idea have a very better description, I will forward some of the informations to idea 1210 (like links to freedesktop specification and blueprint). Thanks for your great participation on this idea!
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saivann (Moderator) wrote on the 9 Apr 08 at 01:54
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mp3phish : I just see your comment, I hope that you were not talking about idea 1210 since I just set it as a duplicate.
Reading your idea, I believe that it stands for the same improvement than idea 1210 but if there are some parts of your idea that should in your opinion be separate from idea 1210, please open a idea which describes specifically what improvement you suggest and include a note at the beginning or at the end of your idea telling that this idea is not a duplicate (maybe with a brief reason), this way it won't be accidentally set as duplicate even if it really looks like one.
Again if I made a mistake, I apologize!
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Melkor73 wrote on the 9 Apr 08 at 09:49
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I strongly agree with this idea. But I don't see it as the same as #1210. It is not limited to cleaning up the /home mess, but insists on clearly separating user data and user settings. It can be a very huge improvement that can BOTH clean the /home mess, and make data/settings management easier for users, testers, integrators, etc.
Window$ does this with with "C:\Documents and Settings\$USER\Local Settings" and "C:\Documents and Settings\$USER\Application Data" !
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ploum wrote on the 9 Apr 08 at 19:48
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Saivann > I believe that this idea is not a duplicate because it's not about cleaning $HOME (which would be a consequence), it's about separate preferences and user data.
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saivann (Moderator) wrote on the 9 Apr 08 at 21:15
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Un-duplicated this idea. Thanks to the brainstorm devs which implemented that functionnality today, thanks for keeping active on this idea, and sorry for my mistake :).
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ploum wrote on the 10 Apr 08 at 19:35
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thanks for your prompt reaction and for your work :-)
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mp3phish wrote on the 10 Apr 08 at 23:37
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Saivann, thanks for responding. I should have posted my idea# in my complaint but its no big deal. just FYI, my original idea was: http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/5979/
The idea it was marked as a duplicate of was the 1210 which specifies a different (and non standard) directory tree, whereas my idea specifically was about the freedesktop.org specification and implementation strategy. So simlar end goals, but my idea 5979 is actually very close to this current idea and not very close to the 1210 idea.
Thanks again for responding!
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saivann (Moderator) wrote on the 11 Apr 08 at 06:54
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Mmh, I tried to bring back this idea as a duplicate of this one but brainstorm refused it, I finally had no choice but to mark it as deleted so I believe that we should keep things like they are now, I'm glad that it has been possible to cancel the duplicate!
BTW, your idea is excellent!
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nedu wrote on the 15 Apr 08 at 23:29
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At its most basic core, I think this is a very good idea.
But I'm voting this one down anyway.
Because the way you have presented this idea is horrible:
- The presentation doesn't attack the basic problem.
- The proposed fix just moves the 'clutter' around.
- I think your presentation misreads the intent of XDG Base Directory Specification and misapplies that spec.
- The proposed solution pollutes the filesystem namespace used by freedesktop.org specifications.
As I understand the XDG BDS, it reserves a portion of the filesystem namespace for use by other freedesktop.org specs. Having a reserved namespace is an essential first step in having agreed names common between various desktop environments: Gnome, KDE, XFCE.
Once that namespace becomes polluted --especially by distributions-- it becomes very difficult to extend the specifications in ways that don't break things.
In short, imho, the XDG base directories SHOULD only be used in conformance with (other) freedesktop.org specifications. That is, particular subdirectories and filenames or filename-patterns should only be put into that namespace by agreement.
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ben2talk wrote on the 26 Apr 08 at 16:21
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Strongly agree. A nice 'Settings backup control centre' could offer a nice 'system restore' kind of action, so you can merrily do anything you like, knowing that when you can't reboot you will instead go to a recovery console which allows you to choose to use failsafe options:
1. Complete System Restore (to completely wipe and restore the partition from backup image(s) on another partition/CD/DVD
2. Restore System Settings: If the menu has an option for you to Save System Settings and give the file a name (1 month after install, for example) then this option can allow you to go back to any restore point which you stored. With XP, the idea of the system is great (although it doesn't work too well).
3. Simple 'Go Back'. This should be allowed to exclude only files (which I learned in Windows to keep on a separate partition) such as your movies/pictures/documents.
As part of a 'cleaning up excercise', the menu's should be cleaned up a little more (put gnome-control-centre at the top of the preferences menu, it precedes logically and functionally the 'advanced desktop settings' and the 'appearance' settings, and contains both, yet is not readily available).
Ubuntu has improved more in the last 6 months than Windows did in 6 years - however, Windows will forge ahead. Given the current situation, ubuntu should overtake Windows easily, but I hope it will never be more popular because I like to be in a minority. 10% share would be fine.
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Blueprint correct-home-dir-clutter: