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The problem
===========
When writing desktop application, finding the right location to store user
data
and configuration varies per platform. Even for single-platform apps, there
may by plenty of nuances in figuring out the right location.
For example, if running on macOS, you should use::
~/Library/Application Support/
If on Windows (at least English Win) that should be::
C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Local
Settings\\
or possibly::
C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\\
for [roaming profiles] but that is another story.
On Linux (and other Unices), according to the `XDG Basedir Spec`_, it
should be::
~/.local/share/
.. _XDG Basedir Spec:
https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html
platformdirs to the rescue
==============================
This kind of thing is what the platformdirs package is for.
platformdirs will help you choose an appropriate:
- user data dir (user_data_dir)
- user config dir (user_config_dir)
- user cache dir (user_cache_dir)
- site data dir (site_data_dir)
- site config dir (site_config_dir)
- user log dir (user_log_dir)
- user documents dir (user_documents_dir)
- user downloads dir (user_downloads_dir)
- user pictures dir (user_pictures_dir)
- user videos dir (user_videos_dir)
- user music dir (user_music_dir)
- user desktop dir (user_desktop_dir)
- user runtime dir (user_runtime_dir)
And also:
- Is slightly opinionated on the directory names used. Look for "OPINION"
in
documentation and code for when an opinion is being applied.
Example output
==============
On macOS:
.. code-block:: pycon
>>> from platformdirs import *
>>> appname = "SuperApp"
>>> appauthor = "Acme"
>>> user_data_dir(appname, appauthor)
'/Users/trentm/Library/Application Support/SuperApp'
>>> site_data_dir(appname, appauthor)
'/Library/Application Support/SuperApp'
>>> user_cache_dir(appname, appauthor)
'/Users/trentm/Library/Caches/SuperApp'
>>> user_log_dir(appname, appauthor)
'/Users/trentm/Library/Logs/SuperApp'
>>> user_documents_dir()
'/Users/trentm/Documents'
>>> user_downloads_dir()
'/Users/trentm/Downloads'
>>> user_pictures_dir()
'/Users/trentm/Pictures'
>>> user_videos_dir()
'/Users/trentm/Movies'
>>> user_music_dir()
'/Users/trentm/Music'
>>> user_desktop_dir()
'/Users/trentm/Desktop'
>>> user_runtime_dir(appname, appauthor)
'/Users/trentm/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/SuperApp'
On Windows:
.. code-block:: pycon
>>> from platformdirs import *
>>> appname = "SuperApp"
>>> appauthor = "Acme"
>>> user_data_dir(appname, appauthor)
'C:\\Users\\trentm\\AppData\\Local\\Acme\\SuperApp'
>>> user_data_dir(appname, appauthor, roaming=True)
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