- a tiny mid-level library with a minimal API
- that provides the platform-specific, user-accessible locations
- for retrieving and storing configuration, cache and other data
- on Linux, Redox, Windows (β₯ Vista), macOS and other platforms.
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 API on Windows
- the Standard Directories guidelines on macOS
This library is written in Rust, and supports Linux, Redox, macOS and Windows. Other platforms are also supported; they use the Linux conventions.
dirs, the low-level sister library, is available at dirs-rs.
A version of this library running on the JVM is provided by directories-jvm.
Add the library as a dependency to your project by inserting
directories = "5.0"
into the [dependencies]
section of your Cargo.toml file.
If you are upgrading from version 2, please read the section on breaking changes first.
Library run by user Alice:
extern crate directories;
use directories::{BaseDirs, UserDirs, ProjectDirs};
if let Some(proj_dirs) = ProjectDirs::from("com", "Foo Corp", "Bar App") {
proj_dirs.config_dir();
// Lin: /home/alice/.config/barapp
// Win: C:\Users\Alice\AppData\Roaming\Foo Corp\Bar App\config
// Mac: /Users/Alice/Library/Application Support/com.Foo-Corp.Bar-App
}
if let Some(base_dirs) = BaseDirs::new() {
base_dirs.executable_dir();
// Lin: Some(/home/alice/.local/bin)
// Win: None
// Mac: None
}
if let Some(user_dirs) = UserDirs::new() {
user_dirs.audio_dir();
// Lin: /home/alice/Music
// Win: C:\Users\Alice\Music
// Mac: /Users/Alice/Music
}
- 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
orProjectDirs::from
.
Subsequent changes to the state of the system are not reflected in values created 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,
as 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.
The confusion and unexpected failure modes of such an approach would be immense.executable_dir
is specified to provide the path to a user-writable directory for binaries.
As such a directory only commonly exists on Linux, it returnsNone
on macOS and Windows.font_dir
is specified to provide the path to a user-writable directory for fonts.
As such a directory only exists on Linux and macOS, it returnsNone
on 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 directory only commonly exists on Linux, it returnsNone
on macOS and Windows.
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/Application Support |
config_local_dir |
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME or $HOME /.config |
{FOLDERID_LocalAppData} |
$HOME /Library/Application Support |
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) or Some($HOME /.local/bin) |
None |
None |
preference_dir |
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME or $HOME /.config |
{FOLDERID_RoamingAppData} |
$HOME /Library/Preferences |
runtime_dir |
Some($XDG_RUNTIME_DIR) or None |
None |
None |
state_dir |
Some($XDG_STATE_HOME) or Some($HOME /.local/state) |
None |
None |
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/) |
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> /config |
$HOME /Library/Application Support/<project_path> |
config_local_dir |
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME /<project_path> or $HOME /.config/<project_path> |
{FOLDERID_LocalAppData} /<project_path> /config |
$HOME /Library/Application Support/<project_path> |
data_dir |
$XDG_DATA_HOME /<project_path> or $HOME /.local/share/<project_path> |
{FOLDERID_RoamingAppData} /<project_path> /data |
$HOME /Library/Application Support/<project_path> |
data_local_dir |
$XDG_DATA_HOME /<project_path> or $HOME /.local/share/<project_path> |
{FOLDERID_LocalAppData} /<project_path> /data |
$HOME /Library/Application Support/<project_path> |
preference_dir |
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME /<project_path> or $HOME /.config/<project_path> |
{FOLDERID_RoamingAppData} /<project_path> /config |
$HOME /Library/Preferences/<project_path> |
runtime_dir |
Some($XDG_RUNTIME_DIR /<project_path>) |
None |
None |
state_dir |
Some($XDG_STATE_HOME /<project_path>) or $HOME /.local/state/<project_path> |
None |
None |
The specific value of <project_path>
is computed by the
ProjectDirs::from(qualifier: &str,
organization: &str,
application: &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 strongly discouraged, as its results will not follow operating system standards on at least two of three platforms.
There are other crates in the Rust ecosystem that try similar or related things. Here is an overview of them, combined with ratings on properties that guided the design of this crate.
Please take this table with a grain of salt: a different crate might very well be more suitable for your specific use case. (Of course my crate achieves my design goals better than other crates, which might have had different design goals.)
Library | Status | Lin | Mac | Win | Base | User | Proj | Conv |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
app_dirs | Unmaintained | β | β | β | π | β | β | β |
app_dirs2 | Maintained | β | β | β | π | β | β | β |
dirs | Developed | β | β | β | β | β | β | β |
directories | Developed | β | β | β | β | β | β | β |
s_app_dir | Unmaintained? | β | β | π | β | β | π | β |
standard_paths | Maintained | β | β | β | β | β | β | β |
xdg | Maintained | β | β | β | β | β | β | π |
xdg-basedir | Unmaintained? | β | β | β | β | β | β | π |
xdg-rs | Obsolete | β | β | β | β | β | β | π |
- Lin: Linux support
- Mac: macOS support
- Win: Windows support
- Base: Supports generic base directories
- User: Supports user directories
- Proj: Supports project-specific base directories
- Conv: Follows naming conventions of the operating system it runs on
It's possible to cross-compile this library if the necessary toolchains are installed with rustup. This is helpful to ensure a change has not broken compilation on a different platform.
The following commands will build this library on Linux, macOS and Windows:
cargo build --target=x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
cargo build --target=x86_64-pc-windows-gnu
cargo build --target=x86_64-apple-darwin
cargo build --target=x86_64-unknown-redox
- Update
dirs-sys
dependency to0.4.0
. - Add
config_local_dir
for non-roaming configuration on Windows. On non-Windows platforms the behavior is identical toconfig dir
.
- BREAKING CHANGE The behavior of
executable_dir
has been adjusted to not depend on$XDG_DATA_HOME
. Code, which assumed that setting the$XDG_DATA_HOME
environment variable also impactedexecutable_dir
if the$XDG_BIN_HOME
environment variable was not set, requires adjustment. - Add support for
XDG_STATE_HOME
.
- BREAKING CHANGE The behavior of the
BaseDirs::config_dir
andProjectDirs::config_dir
on macOS has been adjusted (thanks to everyone involved):- The existing
config_dir
functions have been changed to return theApplication Support
directory on macOS, as suggested by Apple documentation. - The behavior of the
config_dir
functions on non-macOS platforms has not been changed. - If you have used the
config_dir
functions to store files, it may be necessary to write code that migrates the files to the new location on macOS.
(Alternative: change uses of theconfig_dir
functions to uses of thepreference_dir
functions to retain the old behavior.)
- The existing
- The newly added
BaseDirs::preference_dir
andProjectDirs::preference_dir
functions returns thePreferences
directory on macOS now, which β according to Apple documentation β shall only be used to store .plist files using Apple-proprietary APIs. βpreference_dir
andconfig_dir
behave identical on non-macOS platforms.
BREAKING CHANGE The behavior of deactivated, missing or invalid XDG User Dirs entries on Linux has been improved (contributed by @tmiasko, thank you!):
- Version 1 returned the user's home directory (
Some($HOME)
) for such faulty entries, except for a faultyXDG_DESKTOP_DIR
entry which returned (Some($HOME/Desktop)
). - Version 2 returns
None
for such entries.
Licensed under either of
- Apache License, Version 2.0 (LICENSE-APACHE or https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
- MIT license (LICENSE-MIT or https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
at your option.
Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the work by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.