app_dirs

Description:

app dirs

A library to locate common directories using platform-specific conventions.
What's this? #
This library follows platform-specific conventions to locate common directories.
For example, the correct directory to use for application configuration files
might be $HOME/.config/my-app on Linux,
$HOME/Library/Application Support/My App on Macos, and
%APPDATA%\My App\config on Windows.
To use:
var appDirs = getAppDirs(application: 'FooBar App');

// Use this directory for general application configuration files.
var configDir = appDirs.config;
...

// Use this directory for cached information.
var cacheDir = appDirs.cache;
...
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See also our API docs.
Mac usage #
Mac standards #
For MacOS defaults, we follow Apple's

Standard Directories
docs. This generally puts files in subdirectories of $HOME/Library, which is
appropriate for most Mac apps.

Mac alternate conventions #
API clients can opt into a separate set of file location convetions for Macos.
This is done via the preferUnixConventions flag:
var appDirs = getAppDirs(
application: 'FooBar App',
preferUnixConventions: true,
);
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This will opt that tool into using Unix style directory conventions - for
example, putting config files into $HOME/.config/foobar-app. While not the
Macos standard file locations, this could better match user expectations for
things like command-line tools.
Linux usage #
On Unix OSes, we follow the
XDG Base Directory Specification.
This is generally creating directories under the user's $HOME directory, but
respecting various $XDG_* environment variable overrides.
Windows usage #
On Windows, we follow the standard Windows directory structure convention
(docuented here
and elsewhere).
BaseDirs values #
This is the table of directories returned for Directories.baseDirs.
AppDirs - the recommended API for people to use - builds on top of this using
information like the application name, qualifier (org, com, ...) and
organization name.



Property
Linux
Mac
Windows




home
$HOME
$HOME
%USERPROFILE%


cache
$XDG_CACHE_HOME or $HOME/.cache
$HOME/Library/Caches
%LOCALAPPDATA%


config
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME or $HOME/.config
$HOME/Library/Application Support
%APPDATA%


data
$XDG_DATA_HOME or $HOME/.local/share
$HOME/Library/Application Support
%APPDATA%


dataLocal
see data
see data
%LOCALAPPDATA%


preference
see config
$HOME/Library/Preferences
see config


state
$XDG_STATE_HOME or $HOME/.local/state
null
null



Useful references #
Specifications and documentation:

https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html
developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/FileManagement
https://pureinfotech.com/list-environment-variables-windows-10/

Similar libraries for other platforms:

https://github.com/dirs-dev/directories-jvm
https://github.com/dirs-dev/directories-rs

Publishing automation #
For information about our publishing automation and release process, see
https://github.com/dart-lang/ecosystem/wiki/Publishing-automation.