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Description
The directories I am describing is not new; it is only a collection of existing standard practices.
Current practice
Currently, common practice is to install rust packages into ~/.rust. This is unfriendly, since you're adding a junk dir in the middle of someone else's home, and there are better places (mostly ~/.local/lib/rust, but do keep reading).
Installation variables
These are often embedded into the application at configure-time (unlike DESTDIR, which must not be, since it is only for use of packaging tools).
| variable | default | purpose |
|---|---|---|
| PREFIX | /usr/local | architecture-independent files (/usr for distros) |
| EPREFIX | ${PREFIX} | architecture-dependent files |
| BINDIR | ${EPREFIX}/bin | user executables (${PREFIX}/games for games) |
| SBINDIR | ${EPREFIX}/sbin | system admin executables |
| LIBEXECDIR | ${EPREFIX}/libexec | program executables |
| SYSCONFDIR | ${PREFIX}/etc | read-only single-machine data (/etc for distros) |
| LOCALSTATEDIR | ${PREFIX}/var | modifiable single-machine data (/var for distros) |
| LIBDIR | ${EPREFIX}/lib | object code libraries |
| DATAROOTDIR | ${PREFIX}/share | read-only arch.-independent data root |
| DATADIR | ${DATAROOTDIR} | read-only architecture-independent data (${PREFIX}/share/games for games) (should only use ${DATADIR}/${PACKAGE}/) |
| LOCALEDIR | ${DATAROOTDIR}/locale | locale-dependent data |
| DOCDIR | ${DATAROOTDIR}/doc/${PACKAGE} | documentation root |
Working in ${HOME}
(XDG; this applies even if you were installed globally)
| variable | default | purpose |
|---|---|---|
| XDG_DATA_HOME | $HOME/.local/share | dir to read/write user data |
| XDG_DATA_DIRS | /usr/local/share/:/usr/share/ | dirs to read data after that (should include ${DATADIR} if you change that) |
| XDG_CONFIG_HOME | $HOME/.config | dir to read/write user config |
| XDG_CONFIG_DIRS | /etc/xdg | dirs to read config after that |
| XDG_CACHE_HOME | $HOME/.cache | dir to read/write nonessential temporary files |
| XDG_RUNTIME_DIR | None (supposed to be set by session manager, often unavailable) | private (0700) dir for sockets and named pipes |
(To encourage the development of well-behaved software, some helper functions should be put in one of the standard libraries)
Practical installation into ${HOME}
| variable | default |
|---|---|
| PREFIX | ${HOME}/.local |
| BINDIR | ${HOME}/bin |
| DATADIR | ${XDG_DATA_HOME} |
| SBINDIR | hopeless |
| SYSCONFDIR | ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME} |
| LOCALSTATEDIR | if an application needs this, it probably can't be installed as user. However, ${LOCALSTATEDIR}/cache is vaguely similar to ${XDG_CACHE_HOME} and ${LOCALSTATEDIR}/run is vaguely similar to ${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR} |
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