[Feature/Bug] On Linux follow XDG Base Directory Specification

[Ddystopia]

Motivation

On linux MQTTX stores cache inside ~/.config (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME). This is bad because users can't rely on configs being "light", they are polluted with caches and can't be just copied around. There is an existing solution that has been around for many years, XDG Base Directory Specification.

The specification: https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir/latest/

Detailed design

Convention is to store cache in $XDG_CACHE_HOME or at least ~/.cache. The same goes for data - XDG_DATA_HOME or at least ~.local/share.

[ysfscream]

Hi, thanks for the feedback.

I think there might be some confusion here. What MQTTX stores in ~/.config/MQTTX/ is user configurations and persistent data (connections, settings, message history), not cache.

The difference:

• Cache: Temporary, disposable data that can be regenerated. Safe to delete anytime.
• Store/Data: Persistent user data that should be preserved. Deleting it means losing your configurations and history.

According to XDG spec, ~/.config is for configuration files, which is what MQTTX stores there.

[Ddystopia]

Well, here is what I see using fd:

 ~/.config/MQTTX
> fd cache --hidden --type d
Cache/
Cache/Cache_Data/
Code Cache/
DawnGraphiteCache/
DawnWebGPUCache/
GPUCache/
Shared Dictionary/cache/

Seems like MQTTX is indeed storing caches in .config directory, or are using names like "Cache" to store user data?

---

P.S.

Your response looks AI generated.

[ysfscream]

YES 😂 AI just helped rephrase my thoughts into English.

[ysfscream]

And yes, I misunderstood what you meant earlier. I thought you were saying that MQTTX’s data itself was cache.

At the moment, MQTTX does not explicitly override Electron’s cache directories on Linux, so Electron ends up placing both cache and application data under ~/.config/MQTTX by default.

Based on your explanation, this is indeed something that can be improved. I may need to look at other open-source Electron projects to better understand the typical Linux behavior and best practices.