Configuration files should be stored in `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME` (by default at `~/.config`)

[nagromc]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

I strive to have a clean home directory, but there are many files related to WakaTime in ~:

• .wakatime.bdb
• .wakatime.cfg
• .wakatime.db
• .wakatime.log
• .wakatime-internal.cfg (since #535)

Describe the solution you'd like to see

A lot of softwares find their configuration in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME (by default at ~/.config), which helps to have a less cluttered ~.

WakaTime could use the same convention to place the configuration files such as .wakatime.cfg in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/wakatime (which would be ~/.config/wakatime by default), and data files such as .wakatime.db in $XDG_DATA_HOME/wakatime or $XDG_CACHE_HOME/wakatime.

Describe alternatives you've considered

Another solution would be to group them in a new directory such as ~/.wakatime.

Additional context

This feature request describes the behavior in a Unix environment, but macOS and Windows have their own conventions, even if the XDG Base Directory Specification leaks on them a little. I let you choose what suits the most for those platforms.

[alanhamlett]

This is something we've been wanting to do for a while. Let's use:

• Unix: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/wakatime/
• Mac: $HOME/.wakatime/
• Windows: $HOME/.wakatime/

Some of the editor extensions already use $HOME/.wakatime/ for the wakatime-cli location.

[nagromc]

This seems reasonable to me 👍

[viggo-gascou]

Status on this? Would like to declutter my home directory as well 😅

Also if I set the various $XDG_XXXX_HOME variables on a Mac would WakaTime 'respect' it or always put it in $HOME/.wakatime/?

And lastly does setting $WAKATIME_HOME only apply to .wakatime.cfg or does it also apply to the log and other files that OP mentioned?

Thanks!

[kfdm]

On MacOS as well, I think it would be better to default to the XDG_CONFIG_HOME spec and keep the user's HOME tidy. I would imagine there is a go library somewhere that handles most of this already 🤔

[alanhamlett]

go library somewhere that handles most of this already

Each plugin uses a different language so we'll have to implement it in multiple languages, unless we use wakatime-cli for setting the api key instead of writing the file directly from the plugins. The main thing is to make it backwards compatible so the plugins/wakatime-cli detects a config file in $HOME and moves it to the new location if one doesn't already exist there.

[sellout]

I think the db and log files should go in $XDG_STATE_HOME/wakatime/ (or $XDG_CACHE_HOME/wakatime/ if they can be regenerated), not $XDG_DATA_HOME (because that’s intended to be for read-only data).

I also agree with @kfdm that the XDG locations should be used on MacOS as well.

[sellout]

Oh, and I think the internal config should probably be in $XDG_CACHE_HOME, since that looks like it can be regenerated if needed. It’s not really a config file.

[nagromc]

I’m not a GoLang programmer, but I just found out there are built-in functions in GoLang to abstract the OS-specific paths of the many directory usecases: config, cache, data, state, etc.

Some documentation:

• https://pkg.go.dev/os#UserConfigDir
• https://pkg.go.dev/os#UserCacheDir
• https://pkg.go.dev/os#UserHomeDir

Maybe you should consider to stick to these conventions after all.

[alanhamlett]

Let's first move ~/.wakatime.log into ~/.wakatime/wakatime.log since that's the easiest as it's not read/used by any IDE plugins.