[Bug 2050] New: Support XDG basedir specification

[b***@mindrot.org]

https://bugzilla.mindrot.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2050

Bug ID: 2050
Summary: Support XDG basedir specification
Classification: Unclassified
Product: Portable OpenSSH
Version: -current
Hardware: Other
OS: Linux
Status: NEW
Severity: enhancement
Priority: P5
Component: Miscellaneous
Assignee: unassigned-***@mindrot.org
Reporter: ***@free.fr

Please support FreeDesktop.org XDG basedir specification for openssh

http://ploum.net/post/207-modify-your-application-to-use-xdg-folders
https://live.gnome.org/GnomeGoals/XDGConfigFolders
http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/latest/

[b***@mindrot.org]

https://bugzilla.mindrot.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2050

Damien Miller <***@mindrot.org> changed:

What |Removed |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CC| |***@mindrot.org
Status|NEW |RESOLVED
Resolution|--- |WONTFIX

--- Comment #1 from Damien Miller <***@mindrot.org> ---
No.

OpenSSH (and it's ancestor ssh-1.x) have a 17 year history of using
~/.ssh. This location is baked into innumerable users' brains, millions
of happily working configurations and countless tools.

Changing the location of our configuration would require a very strong
justification and following a trend of desktop applications (of which
OpenSSH is not) is not sufficient.

[b***@mindrot.org]

https://bugzilla.mindrot.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2050

--- Comment #2 from Eric Heintzmann <***@free.fr> ---
Please notice that backward compatibility can be preserved by continue
to use ~/.ssh if it exits but using/creating XDG dirs if it is not
exist.

[b***@mindrot.org]

https://bugzilla.mindrot.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2050

--- Comment #3 from Damien Miller <***@mindrot.org> ---
So tools and users need to hunt in two places for configuration that
has security ramifications? That makes it even less palatable...

[b***@mindrot.org]

https://bugzilla.mindrot.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2050

--- Comment #4 from Eric Heintzmann <***@free.fr> ---
The Freedesktop.org XDG base directory specification have good de facto
adoption.
It has been adopted by:
- GNOME ( https://live.gnome.org/GnomeGoals/XDGConfigFolders )
- GTK+ ( https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=646631 )
- KDE (
http://techbase.kde.org/KDE_System_Administration/XDG_Filesystem_Hierarchy#Freedesktop.org_and_Standard_Directories
)
- QT (
http://harmattan-dev.nokia.com/docs/library/html/qt4/qsettings.html#setPath
)
- XFCE ( http://docs.xfce.org/xfce/xfce4-session/advanced in Files and
Environment Variables )
- LXDE
- Razor-qt
- VLC ( https://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/1267 )
- GStreamer ( https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=518597 )
- Chrome ( http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=16976 )
- many more upstream applications
- Ubuntu ( http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/6557/ &
http://packages.ubuntu.com/fr/source/precise/libxdg-basedir )
- Debian ( http://packages.debian.org/squeeze/libxdg-basedir1 )
- Red Hat
- Fedora
- Suse
- many more distributions

I think that OpenSSH should use same locations than the vast majority
of Desktop environment and applications.


There are real advantages of following this specification :
- a lot less cluttered $HOME
- Make backups a lot more safer and easier.
Backuping your $XDG_DATA_HOME along with your files is enough
(or just excluding $XDG_CACHE_HOME)
- A lot easier to reset a default configuration if you want/need it
(and without any risk to loose informations).
Even for the software itself could choose to reset $XDG_CONFIG_HOME
if needed.
- Avoid some strange bugs that happens because you had a old version of
some configuration file
- A lot more of flexibility and portability because no path are
hardcoded.

[b***@mindrot.org]

https://bugzilla.mindrot.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2050

Quintus <***@gmail.com> changed:

What |Removed |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CC| |***@gmail.com
Status|RESOLVED |REOPENED
Resolution|WONTFIX |---

--- Comment #5 from Quintus <***@gmail.com> ---
My apologies for digging this issue from the grave. Please let me know
if it would be better to file a new report.

A possible solution to this issue could be to add an option (boolean,
like VisualHostKey with ``yes'' and ``no'' as options) to the system's
ssh_config file.

E. Heintzmann's argument is certainly a valid one. Giving users this
option (even if ``no'' is the default) would be useful and rational.

Desktop applications are not the only applications to make use of
XDG_CONFIG_HOME; judging only by my own server, git, htop, irssi, tmux,
some distributions of vim, and zsh all offer this capability.

The theory behind the option is enumerated well here:
http://stick.gk2.sk/2009/03/the-ugly-duckling-called-xdg_config_home/

[b***@mindrot.org]

https://bugzilla.mindrot.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2050

Darren Tucker <***@zip.com.au> changed:

What |Removed |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CC| |***@zip.com.au
Status|REOPENED |RESOLVED
Resolution|--- |WONTFIX

--- Comment #6 from Darren Tucker <***@zip.com.au> ---
sorry, but the answer is "no". please stop beating this particular
dead horse.

[b***@bugzilla.mindrot.org]

https://bugzilla.mindrot.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2050

Damien Miller <***@mindrot.org> changed:

What |Removed |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Status|RESOLVED |CLOSED

--- Comment #7 from Damien Miller <***@mindrot.org> ---
Close all resolved bugs after 7.3p1 release