Re: XDG Shortcut Standard for the Directory Type

[Jake Gustafson]

Is anyone taking note of this? I believed I used the steps given to 
communicate an issue. Where is the best place to discuss this concern?


On 11/2/22 11:23, Jacob wrote:

Hello,

I've just joined the mailing list. My name is Jake Gustafson, known as 
Poikilos on GitHub and elsewhere. I have been creating stories, 
creature drawings, and comics since I was a child. I started learning 
to code when I was 12. If you look at my profile on GitHub 
 or or a high-level summary on my 
StackOverflow profile 
, you can see my 
various contributions in the form of mostly some small python 
libraries not yet in PyPi and also several pull requests to existing 
projects, as well as assisting with identifying or diagnosing issues 
in public-licensed software.


Thanks for allowing me to join the mailing list automatically. I hope 
this isn't a distraction from the mailing list if my issue is not 
supposed to be here. The website said discussions about XDG should 
take place on this mailing list. I hope this is the best place for the 
technical issue below, since the issue involves the standard itself 
rather than the software, which seems to implement the standard as the 
standard stands, from my tests regarding this issue (using 
desktop-file-validate).


The standard itself is missing a definition of what key is appropriate 
for the path where the Type is Directory. In fact, there doesn't seem 
to be any specification of the Directory type in the XDG standard 
other than that the extension should be ".directory". In fact, there 
seems to be no way to construct such a file in a way 
that desktop-file-validate doesn't show an error.


May I propose "Path" could be the key in this case? It seems intuitive.

It may also pave the way for a "File" Type implemented similarly. I 
suggest adding that.


I have had several uses for such a feature so I implemented these 
features in an alternative standard called blnk 
. If XDG implements the features, I 
would change my program to match the standard. The use cases are as 
follows:
- I (and various tech channels on YouTube) often install GNU/Linux 
systems on old/new computers for relatives to avoid various Windows 
issues. Such users don't understand symlinks. Even Mac users don't 
usually understand aliases (which they are called there and made easy 
to create like on Ubuntu) from what I've seen. They sometimes delete 
all of the files from one symlinked directory since they think there 
are two copies of everything. Having a shortcut that goes to the 
"real" directory is preferable and safer in this case.
- In another case, the directory shortcut can point to a location that 
may not always exist. Even some favorite bars or programs simply 
"forget" (or hide) a subdirectory of an unmounted drive or remote host 
upon loading. This is not clear to the user what is going on. They may 
wonder where the shortcut went or what is happening. If there was a 
complete .directory file standard, then DEs (maybe via xdg-launch or 
some new xdg command that doesn't depend on mimetype) could launch the 
file and stderr could say that the Directory is missing or not 
accessible. The current workaround is to make an Application shortcut 
to a directory, but this is not always advisable. I've heard 
recommendations online saying to launch some particular file browser, 
whereas xdg-launch would be better. If the .directory spec were 
completed then implemented be DEs, there would be a clear answer to 
the question and there wouldn't have to be workarounds or handwritten 
.desktop files.
- Perhaps DEs could implement following .desktop files in a similar 
way to symlinks: to traverse folders while inside of a file/directory 
chooser dialog box even. That feature is implemented on Windows, for 
example. That would allow people to have shortcuts in an appropriate 
place instead of an ever-growing "Favorites" bar in their file 
manager. Also, the favorites bar gets reset to nothing upon changing 
to a different DE or upon running a different flatpak. I understand 
these issues are not the realm of XDG to implement, but having some 
sort of complete specification for Type=Directory would allow DEs to 
do whatever they want with it and have a clear way to remain 
compatible with other DEs in this regard, regardless of whether their 
implementation involves my wishlist.


Thank you,
Jake "Poikilos" Gustafson

XDG Shortcut Standard for the Directory Type

[Jacob]

Hello,

I've just joined the mailing list. My name is Jake Gustafson, known as
Poikilos on GitHub and elsewhere. I have been creating stories, creature
drawings, and comics since I was a child. I started learning to code when I
was 12. If you look at my profile on GitHub 
or or a high-level summary on my StackOverflow profile
, you can see my various
contributions in the form of mostly some small python libraries not yet in
PyPi and also several pull requests to existing projects, as well as
assisting with identifying or diagnosing issues in public-licensed software.

Thanks for allowing me to join the mailing list automatically. I hope this
isn't a distraction from the mailing list if my issue is not supposed to be
here. The website said discussions about XDG should take place on this
mailing list. I hope this is the best place for the technical issue below,
since the issue involves the standard itself rather than the software,
which seems to implement the standard as the standard stands, from my tests
regarding this issue (using desktop-file-validate).

The standard itself is missing a definition of what key is appropriate for
the path where the Type is Directory. In fact, there doesn't seem to be any
specification of the Directory type in the XDG standard other than that the
extension should be ".directory". In fact, there seems to be no way to
construct such a file in a way that desktop-file-validate doesn't show an
error.

May I propose "Path" could be the key in this case? It seems intuitive.

It may also pave the way for a "File" Type implemented similarly. I suggest
adding that.

I have had several uses for such a feature so I implemented these features
in an alternative standard called blnk .
If XDG implements the features, I would change my program to match the
standard. The use cases are as follows:
- I (and various tech channels on YouTube) often install GNU/Linux systems
on old/new computers for relatives to avoid various Windows issues. Such
users don't understand symlinks. Even Mac users don't usually understand
aliases (which they are called there and made easy to create like on
Ubuntu) from what I've seen. They sometimes delete all of the files from
one symlinked directory since they think there are two copies of
everything. Having a shortcut that goes to the "real" directory is
preferable and safer in this case.
- In another case, the directory shortcut can point to a location that may
not always exist. Even some favorite bars or programs simply "forget" (or
hide) a subdirectory of an unmounted drive or remote host upon loading.
This is not clear to the user what is going on. They may wonder where the
shortcut went or what is happening. If there was a complete .directory file
standard, then DEs (maybe via xdg-launch or some new xdg command that
doesn't depend on mimetype) could launch the file and stderr could say that
the Directory is missing or not accessible. The current workaround is to
make an Application shortcut to a directory, but this is not always
advisable. I've heard recommendations online saying to launch some
particular file browser, whereas xdg-launch would be better. If the
.directory spec were completed then implemented be DEs, there would be a
clear answer to the question and there wouldn't have to be workarounds or
handwritten .desktop files.
- Perhaps DEs could implement following .desktop files in a similar way to
symlinks: to traverse folders while inside of a file/directory chooser
dialog box even. That feature is implemented on Windows, for example. That
would allow people to have shortcuts in an appropriate place instead of an
ever-growing "Favorites" bar in their file manager. Also, the favorites bar
gets reset to nothing upon changing to a different DE or upon running a
different flatpak. I understand these issues are not the realm of XDG to
implement, but having some sort of complete specification for
Type=Directory would allow DEs to do whatever they want with it and have a
clear way to remain compatible with other DEs in this regard, regardless of
whether their implementation involves my wishlist.

Thank you,
Jake "Poikilos" Gustafson