Re: Fresh install, Bookworm, XFCE keeps recreating directories
On 16/09/2023 10:09, Greg Wooledge wrote: Altering the contents of an existing file in ~/.config/ upon login sounds incredibly wrong to me, to the point where I have a hard time believing it's a default behavior. user-dirs.dirs(5) The $HOME/.config/user-dirs.dirs file is a text file that contains the user-specific values for the XDG user dirs. It is created and updated by the xdg-user-dirs-update command. xdg-user-dirs-update(1) On the first run a user-dirs.locale file is created containing the locale that was used for the translation. This is used later by GUI tools like xdg-user-dirs-gtk-update to detect if the locale was changed, letting you to migrate from the old names. So the declared goal is keeping folder names consistent with the current locale.
Re: Fresh install, Bookworm, XFCE keeps recreating directories
David Wright composed on 2023-09-15 22:22 (UTC-0500): > On Fri 15 Sep 2023 at 21:24:53 (-0400), Curt Howland wrote: >> On Friday 15 September 2023, Curt Howland was heard to say: >>> I'm not interested in having directories like "Public" and >>> "Videos", but every time I delete them something recreates those >>> directories. >> Found /etc/xdg/user-dirs.conf, changed to "enable=False", no change. >> Found $/.config/user-dirs.dirs, commented out the ones I didn't want, >> no change. File $/.config/user-dirs.dirs reverted to original on >> logout/login. >> Changed all the pointers in $/.config/user-dirs.dirs to "Desktop" so >> that no other directory would be created, success. Deleted >> directories stay deleted. File $/.config/user-dirs.dirs not reverting >> to original form on logout/login. >> What an immense waste of time. I can understand having the directories >> created once, when the user is created. This automatic regeneration >> is utterly pointless and annoying. > AIUI (which is not very well), this comes with the territory when you > install a Desktop Environment. > If you don't really want "Desktop" either, then according to: > > https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/xdg-user-dirs/ > > you can set all those environment variables to point to your $HOME > directory. (The Note that follows explains that just deleting > (≡commenting out) a variable doesn't work.) Example ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs file written 4 years ago that WFM: # This file is written by xdg-user-dirs-update # If you want to change or add directories, just edit the line you're # interested in. All local changes will be retained on the next run # Format is XDG_xxx_DIR="$HOME/yyy", where yyy is a shell-escaped # homedir-relative path, or XDG_xxx_DIR="/yyy", where /yyy is an # absolute path. No other format is supported. # XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop/" XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/Documents/" XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="/home/downloads/" XDG_MUSIC_DIR="/home/AV/music/" XDG_PICTURES_DIR="/home/AV/pix/" XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR="/home/pub/" XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="/home/" XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="/home/AV/videos/" -- Evolution as taught in public schools is, like religion, based on faith, not based on science. Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata
Re: Fresh install, Bookworm, XFCE keeps recreating directories
On Fri 15 Sep 2023 at 21:24:53 (-0400), Curt Howland wrote: > On Friday 15 September 2023, Curt Howland was heard to say: > > I'm not interested in having directories like "Public" and > > "Videos", but every time I delete them something recreates those > > directories. > > Found /etc/xdg/user-dirs.conf, changed to "enable=False", no change. > > Found $/.config/user-dirs.dirs, commented out the ones I didn't want, > no change. File $/.config/user-dirs.dirs reverted to original on > logout/login. > > Changed all the pointers in $/.config/user-dirs.dirs to "Desktop" so > that no other directory would be created, success. Deleted > directories stay deleted. File $/.config/user-dirs.dirs not reverting > to original form on logout/login. > > What an immense waste of time. I can understand having the directories > created once, when the user is created. This automatic regeneration > is utterly pointless and annoying. AIUI (which is not very well), this comes with the territory when you install a Desktop Environment. If you don't really want "Desktop" either, then according to: https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/xdg-user-dirs/ you can set all those environment variables to point to your $HOME directory. (The Note that follows explains that just deleting (≡commenting out) a variable doesn't work.) Cheers, David.
Re: Fresh install, Bookworm, XFCE keeps recreating directories
On Fri, Sep 15, 2023 at 09:24:53PM -0400, Curt Howland wrote: > Found $/.config/user-dirs.dirs, commented out the ones I didn't want, > no change. File $/.config/user-dirs.dirs reverted to original on > logout/login. Is that *normal* behavior of XFCE? I would look into that, probably first by Googling, then perhaps by asking in an XFCE help forum, or whatever it is they have. Also, check the obvious thing: is ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs a regular file, or a symlink? Altering the contents of an existing file in ~/.config/ upon login sounds incredibly wrong to me, to the point where I have a hard time believing it's a default behavior. Maybe your system admin has done something locally on your system to overwrite this file on every login.
Re: Fresh install, Bookworm, XFCE keeps recreating directories
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA256 On Friday 15 September 2023, Curt Howland was heard to say: > I'm not interested in having directories like "Public" and > "Videos", but every time I delete them something recreates those > directories. Found /etc/xdg/user-dirs.conf, changed to "enable=False", no change. Found $/.config/user-dirs.dirs, commented out the ones I didn't want, no change. File $/.config/user-dirs.dirs reverted to original on logout/login. Changed all the pointers in $/.config/user-dirs.dirs to "Desktop" so that no other directory would be created, success. Deleted directories stay deleted. File $/.config/user-dirs.dirs not reverting to original form on logout/login. What an immense waste of time. I can understand having the directories created once, when the user is created. This automatic regeneration is utterly pointless and annoying. Sorry to bother y'all with this. Curt- - -- You may my glories and my state dispose, But not my griefs; still am I king of those. --- William Shakespeare, "Richard II" -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- iHUEAREIAB0WIQTaYVhJsIalt8scIDa2T1fo1pHhqQUCZQUD5QAKCRC2T1fo1pHh qQmuAQCCb1k5ne2E7erKtt1tZelXl736zJKx0q1zjNACCtowiwD9H8RS7Djx5JCW Fnihrk2L+rH614VF70GgyYAXFzfi9Wo= =A/xJ -END PGP SIGNATURE-
Re: Fresh install, Bookworm, XFCE keeps recreating directories
On 16/09/23 12:19, Curt Howland wrote: Good evening. Did a fresh install of Bookworm, installing desktop with XFCE. I'm not interested in having directories like "Public" and "Videos", but every time I delete them something recreates those directories. I can't find where these are set to be created, and re-re-re created. Is there a way to turn this off? Have a look at the output of "apt show xdg-user-dirs" - looks like you need to edit .config/user-dirs.dirs Cheers, Richard
