Directories

Introduction

A tiny library with a minimal API (2 structs, 3 factory functions, getters)
that provides the platform-specific, user-accessible locations
for storing configuration, cache and other data
on Linux, Windows (≥ Vista) and macOS.

The library provides the location of these directories by leveraging the mechanisms defined by - the XDG base directory and the XDG user directory specifications on Linux, - the Known Folder system on Windows, and - the Standard Directories on macOS.

Usage

Dependency

Add the library as a dependency to your project by inserting

toml directories = "0.8.1"

into the [dependencies] section of your Cargo.toml file.

Example

Library run by user Alice:

```rust extern crate directories; use directories::{BaseDirs, UserDirs, ProjectDirs};

let projdirs = ProjectDirs::from("com", "Foo Corp", "Bar App"); projdirs.config_dir(); // Linux: /home/alice/.config/barapp // Windows: C:\Users\Alice\AppData\Roaming\Foo Corp\Bar App\config // macOS: /Users/Alice/Library/Preferences/com.Foo-Corp.Bar-App

let basedirs = BaseDirs::new(); basedirs.executable_dir(); // Linux: Some(/home/alice/.local/share/bin) // Windows: None // macOS: None

let userdirs = UserDirs::new(); userdirs.audio_dir(); // Linux: /home/alice/Music // Windows: /Users/Alice/Music // macOS: C:\Users\Alice\Music ```

Design Goals

The directories library is designed to provide an accurate snapshot of the system's state at the point of invocation of BaseDirs::new, UserDirs::new or ProjectDirs::from. Subsequent changes to the state of the system are not reflected in values creates prior to such a change.
This library does not create directories or check for their existence. The library only provides information on what the path to a certain directory should be. How this information is used is a decision that developers need to make based on the requirements of each individual application.
This library is intentionally focused on providing information on user-writable directories only. There is no discernible benefit in returning a path that points to a user-level, writable directory on one operating system, but a system-level, read-only directory on another, that would outweigh the confusion and unexpected failures such an approach would cause.
- executable_dir is specified to provide the path to a user-writable directory for binaries.
  As such a path only commonly exists on Linux, it returns None on macOS and Windows.
- font_dir is specified to provide the path to a user-writable directory for fonts.
  As such a path only exists on Linux and macOS, it returns None Windows.
- runtime_dir is specified to provide the path to a directory for non-essential runtime data. It is required that this directory is created when the user logs in, is only accessible by the user itself, is deleted when the user logs out, and supports all filesystem features of the operating system.
  As such a path only commonly exists on Linux, it returns None on macOS and Windows.

Features

`BaseDirs`

The intended use-case for BaseDirs is to query the paths of user-invisible standard directories that have been defined according to the conventions of the operating system the library is running on.

If you want to compute the location of cache, config or data directories for your own application or project, use ProjectDirs instead.

| Function name | Value on Linux | Value on Windows | Value on macOS | | ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------- | ----------------------------------- | | home_dir | $HOME | {FOLDERID_Profile} | $HOME | | cache_dir | $XDG_CACHE_HOME or $HOME/.cache | {FOLDERID_LocalAppData} | $HOME/Library/Caches | | config_dir | $XDG_CONFIG_HOME or $HOME/.config | {FOLDERID_RoamingAppData} | $HOME/Library/Preferences | | data_dir | $XDG_DATA_HOME or $HOME/.local/share | {FOLDERID_RoamingAppData} | $HOME/Library/Application Support | | data_local_dir | $XDG_DATA_HOME or $HOME/.local/share | {FOLDERID_LocalAppData} | $HOME/Library/Application Support | | executable_dir | Some($XDG_BIN_HOME/../bin) or Some($XDG_DATA_HOME/../bin) or Some($HOME/.local/bin) | None | None | | runtime_dir | Some($XDG_RUNTIME_DIR) or None | None | None |

`UserDirs`

The intended use-case for UserDirs is to query the paths of user-facing standard directories that have been defined according to the conventions of the operating system the library is running on.

| Function name | Value on Linux | Value on Windows | Value on macOS | | ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------- | ----------------------------------- | | home_dir | $HOME | {FOLDERID_Profile} | $HOME | | audio_dir | Some(XDG_MUSIC_DIR) or None | Some({FOLDERID_Music}) | Some($HOME/Music/) | | desktop_dir | Some(XDG_DESKTOP_DIR) or None | Some({FOLDERID_Desktop}) | Some($HOME/Desktop/) | | document_dir | Some(XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR) or None | Some({FOLDERID_Documents}) | Some($HOME/Documents/) | | download_dir | Some(XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR) or None | Some({FOLDERID_Downloads}) | Some($HOME/Downloads/) | | font_dir | Some($XDG_DATA_HOME/fonts/) or Some($HOME/.local/share/fonts/) | None | Some($HOME/Library/Fonts/) | | picture_dir | Some(XDG_PICTURES_DIR) or None | Some({FOLDERID_Pictures}) | Some($HOME/Pictures/) | | public_dir | Some(XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR) or None | Some({FOLDERID_Public}) | Some($HOME/Public/) | | template_dir | Some(XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR) or None | Some({FOLDERID_Templates}) | None | | video_dir | Some(XDG_VIDEOS_DIR) or None | Some({FOLDERID_Videos}) | Some($HOME/Movies/) |

`ProjectDirs`

The intended use-case for ProjectDirs is to compute the location of cache, config or data directories for your own application or project, which are derived from the standard directories.

| Function name | Value on Linux | Value on Windows | Value on macOS | | ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | | cache_dir | $XDG_CACHE_HOME/_project_path_ or $HOME/.cache/_project_path_ | {FOLDERID_LocalAppData}/_project_path_/cache | $HOME/Library/Caches/_project_path_ | | config_dir | $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/_project_path_ or $HOME/.config/_project_path_ | {FOLDERID_RoamingAppData}/_project_path_ | $HOME/Library/Preferences/_project_path_ | | data_dir | $XDG_DATA_HOME/_project_path_ or $HOME/.local/share/_project_path_ | {FOLDERID_RoamingAppData}/_project_path_ | $HOME/Library/Application Support/_project_path_ | | data_local_dir | $XDG_DATA_HOME/_project_path_ or $HOME/.local/share/_project_path_ | {FOLDERID_LocalAppData}/_project_path_ | $HOME/Library/Application Support/_project_path_ | | runtime_dir | Some($XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/_project_path_) | None | None |

The specific value of _project_path_ is computed by the

ProjectDirs::from(qualifier: &str, organization: &str, project: &str)

function and varies across operating systems. As an example, calling

ProjectDirs::from("org" /*qualifier*/, "Baz Corp" /*organization*/, "Foo Bar-App" /*application*/)

results in the following values:

| Value on Linux | Value on Windows | Value on macOS | | -------------- | ------------------------ | ---------------------------- | | "foobar-app" | "Baz Corp/Foo Bar-App" | "org.Baz-Corp.Foo-Bar-App" |

The ProjectDirs::from_path function allows the creation of ProjectDirs structs directly from a PathBuf value. This argument is used verbatim and is not adapted to operating system standards. The use of ProjectDirs::from_path is heavily discouraged, as its results will not follow operating system standards on at least two of three platforms.

Versioning

After 1.0, the version number of this library consists of a whole number, which is incremented with each release. (Think semantic versioning without minor and patch versions.)