Ubuntu Manpage: File::BaseDir - Use the Freedesktop.org base directory specification

Provided by: libfile-basedir-perl_0.07-1_all

NAME

       File::BaseDir - Use the Freedesktop.org base directory specification

SYNOPSIS

               use File::BaseDir qw/xdg_data_files/;
               for ( xdg_data_files('mime/globs') ) {
                       # do something
               }

DESCRIPTION

       This module can be used to find directories and files as specified by the Freedesktop.org Base Directory
       Specification. This specifications gives a mechanism to locate directories for configuration, application
       data and cache data. It is suggested that desktop applications for e.g. the Gnome, KDE or Xfce platforms
       follow this layout. However, the same layout can just as well be used for non-GUI applications.

       This module forked from File::MimeInfo.

       This module follows version 0.6 of BaseDir specification.

EXPORT

       None by default, but all methods can be exported on demand.  Also the groups ":lookup" and ":vars" are
       defined. The ":vars" group contains all routines with a "xdg_" prefix; the ":lookup" group contains the
       routines to locate files and directories.

METHODS

"new()"
Simple constructor to allow Object Oriented use of this module.

Lookup
The following methods are used to lookup files and folders in one of the search paths.

"data_home(@PATH)"
Takes a list of file path elements and returns a new path by appending them to the data home
directory. The new path does not need to exist. Use this when writing user specific application
data.

Example:

# data_home is: /home/USER/.local/share
$path = $bd->data_home('Foo', 'Bar', 'Baz');
# returns: /home/USER/.local/share/Foo/Bar/Baz

"data_dirs(@PATH)"
Looks for directories specified by @PATH in the data home and other data directories. Returns
(possibly empty) list of readable directories. In scalar context only the first directory found is
returned. Use this to lookup application data.

"data_files(@PATH)"
Looks for files specified by @PATH in the data home and other data directories. Only returns files
that are readable. In scalar context only the first file found is returned. Use this to lookup
application data.

"config_home(@PATH)"
Takes a list of path elements and appends them to the config home directory returning a new path. The
new path does not need to exist. Use this when writing user specific configuration.

"config_dirs(@PATH)"
Looks for directories specified by @PATH in the config home and other config directories. Returns
(possibly empty) list of readable directories. In scalar context only the first directory found is
returned. Use this to lookup configuration.

"config_files(@PATH)"
Looks for files specified by @PATH in the config home and other config directories. Returns a
(possibly empty) list of files that are readable. In scalar context only the first file found is
returned. Use this to lookup configuration.

"cache_home(@PATH)"
Takes a list of path elements and appends them to the cache home directory returning a new path. The
new path does not need to exist.

Variables
The following methods only returns the value of one of the XDG variables.

"xdg_data_home"
Returns either $ENV{XDG_DATA_HOME} or it's default value. Default is $HOME/.local/share.

"xdg_data_dirs"
Returns either $ENV{XDG_DATA_DIRS} or it's default value as list. Default is /usr/local/share,
/usr/share.

"xdg_config_home"
Returns either $ENV{XDG_CONFIG_HOME} or it's default value. Default is $HOME/.config.

"xdg_config_dirs"
Returns either $ENV{XDG_CONFIG_DIRS} or it's default value as list. Default is /etc/xdg.

"xdg_cache_home"
Returns either $ENV{XDG_CACHE_HOME} or it's default value. Default is $HOME/.cache.

NON-UNIX PLATFORMS

       The  use  of  File::Spec  ensures  that  all  paths  are returned in the appropriate form for the current
       platform. On Windows this module will try to set $HOME to a sensible value if it is not defined  yet.  On
       other platforms one can use e.g. File::HomeDir to set $HOME before loading File::BaseDir.

       Please  note that the specification is targeting Unix platforms only and will only have limited relevance
       on other platforms. Any platform dependent behavior in this module should be considered an  extension  of
       the spec.

BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY

       The  methods  "xdg_data_files()"  and  "xdg_config_files()" are exported for backwards compatibility with
       version 0.02. They are identical to "data_files()" and  "config_files()"  respectively  but  without  the
       "wantarray" behavior.

BUGS

       Please mail the author if you encounter any bugs.

AUTHOR

       Jaap Karssenberg || Pardus [Larus] <pardus@cpan.org>

       Copyright (c) 2003, 2007 Jaap G Karssenberg. All rights reserved.  This program is free software; you can
       redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

       Currently being maintained by Kim Ryan