GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 563665
banshee.db should be in $XDG_CACHE_HOME not $XDG_CONFIG_HOME
Last modified: 2009-10-13 17:33:16 UTC
Please describe the problem: banshee.db is a data file, not a configuration file. As such it should be stored under $XDG_DATA_HOME not $XDG_CONFIG_HOME. The XDG Base Directory Specification clearly states: « * There is a single base directory relative to which user-specific data files should be written. ... $XDG_DATA_HOME. * There is a single base directory relative to which user-specific configuration files should be written. ... $XDG_CONFIG_HOME. » Steps to reproduce: Actual results: Expected results: Does this happen every time? Other information: Latest XDG Base Directory Specification: http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html
Actually it should be in $XDG_CACHE_HOME, as the db does not contains real user data but is just a cache for other real data (the files' tags).
(changed bug summary to address last comment)
"does not contain real user data" is completely false on several counts: 1. the playlists and smart playlists and subscriptions etc a user has are definitely "real" and stored nowhere else (and arguably configuration) 2. by default Banshee doesn't write metadata back to files, so if the user changes anything then it's saved in the db only (this probably is more data than config, you're right) In short, our database is used for a combination of config, data, and cache, and I don't see any real reason it should definitely be in DATA vs CONFIG.
Then, why not splitting the database? $CONFIG is meant to be used for stuff the user care about and cannot be regenerated. You cannot regenerate my playlists, nor my settings. $CACHE is meant to be used for stuff the user do not really care about and can be regenerated automatically. I don't care how the covers thumbnails are saved or cached, they can be regenerated whenever I want. $CONFIG is meant to be backup-ed (and in my case put under version control), $CACHE is meant to be lost without problem when not backup-ed. The two should not be treated equally.
Cover at is already in ~/.cache/album-art - this bug is about banshee.db. Splitting the db is out of the question - it is complicated and all for no good reason - the one thing we use the db for that is purely cache is actually only used temporarily - it is cleared when the user quits, and even that could be changed to be saved and considered state/config at some point. Thanks for raising this up - in general you are quite right, I just think that in this case it's not worth the effort to fully distinguish/split things out. It would be great to get your energy/conviction applied to our other bugs - see http://bugzilla.gnome.org/browse.cgi?product=banshee :)
*** Bug 584087 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***