Finding where to store application data portably

[Tony Houghton]

I'm using pygame to write a game called Bombz which needs to save some
data in a directory associated with it. In Unix/Linux I'd probably use
"~/.bombz", in Windows something like
"C:\Documen ts And Settings\<user> \Applicacation Data\Bombz".

There are plenty of messages in the archives for this group about how to
find the correct location in Windows, but what about Mac OS? There I
don't know the correct location for this sort of thing at all. And there
are other, more obscure systems like RISC OS (it may not have pygame but
it definitely has python). Surely this is something that's crying out
for an official function in os or sys.

--
The address in the Reply-To is genuine and should not be edited.
See <http://www.realh.co.uk/contact.html> for more reliable contact
addresses.

[Ron Adam]

Steven D'Aprano wrote:

On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 20:07:54 +0100, Tony Houghton wrote:

> I wish the Linux Standard Base folks would specify that settings files
> should all go into a subdirectory like ~/settings rather than filling up
> the home directory with cruft. That was acceptable in the days when
> people
> only looked at their files with ls, but in these days of GUI file
> managers, it is ridiculous that there are more than 100 dot files and
> directories in my home directory.

Don't all file managers have an option to hide files beginning with '.'?

I don't want to hide them. I just don't want them in my face when I open
my home directory.

+1

This has been a gripe of mine on windows as well, and hiding files (or
extensions) is definitely not the answer.

Personally I think hidden files do more harm than good. It's not a
substitute for good file management, and it not an acceptable
alternative to good security either.

Cheers,
Ron

[Ron Adam]

Tony Houghton wrote:

I'm using pygame to write a game called Bombz which needs to save some
data in a directory associated with it. In Unix/Linux I'd probably use
"~/.bombz", in Windows something like
"C:\Documen ts And Settings\<user> \Applicacation Data\Bombz".

There are plenty of messages in the archives for this group about how to
find the correct location in Windows, but what about Mac OS? There I
don't know the correct location for this sort of thing at all. And there
are other, more obscure systems like RISC OS (it may not have pygame but
it definitely has python). Surely this is something that's crying out
for an official function in os or sys.

This works on Win XP. Not sure if it will work on Linux.

import os

parent = os.path.split(o s.path.abspath( os.sys.argv[0]))[0]
file = parent + os.sep + '.bombz'

Cheers,
Ron

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 02:14:57 +0000, Ron Adam wrote:

Don't all file managers have an option to hide files beginning with '.'?

I don't want to hide them. I just don't want them in my face when I open
my home directory.

+1

This has been a gripe of mine on windows as well, and hiding files (or
extensions) is definitely not the answer.

Personally I think hidden files do more harm than good. It's not a
substitute for good file management, and it not an acceptable
alternative to good security either.

Agreed. If "hidden files" are under the control of the user, then they
aren't really hidden, they are merely filtered from the current view.
Filtering may be useful in many circumstances, but if you are filtering
the same files all the time (eg "don't show me files starting with a
period" or "don't show me files with the invisible flag set") then you
should stick them in a subdirectory.

And if hidden files aren't under the control of the user (as certain
obscure ways of hiding files under Windows aren't), then it is a serious
security risk. You, the user might not be able to hide the files, but you
can bet some virus will. Eg if you drop an executable file in the Windows
XP font directory, it will not show up in the file explorer.
--
Steven.

[Tony Houghton]

Ron Adam wrote:

Tony Houghton wrote:

I'm using pygame to write a game called Bombz which needs to save some
data in a directory associated with it. In Unix/Linux I'd probably use
"~/.bombz", in Windows something like
"C:\Documen ts And Settings\<user> \Applicacation Data\Bombz".

There are plenty of messages in the archives for this group about how to
find the correct location in Windows, but what about Mac OS? There I
don't know the correct location for this sort of thing at all. And there
are other, more obscure systems like RISC OS (it may not have pygame but
it definitely has python). Surely this is something that's crying out
for an official function in os or sys.

This works on Win XP. Not sure if it will work on Linux.

import os

parent = os.path.split(o s.path.abspath( os.sys.argv[0]))[0]
file = parent + os.sep + '.bombz'

Ooh, no, I don't want saved data to go in the installation directory. In
general that practice encourages people to run with Admin access, and
it's about time Windows users were discouraged from that.

--
The address in the Reply-To is genuine and should not be edited.
See <http://www.realh.co.uk/contact.html> for more reliable contact
addresses.

[Steve Holden]

Ron Adam wrote:

Tony Houghton wrote:

I'm using pygame to write a game called Bombz which needs to save some
data in a directory associated with it. In Unix/Linux I'd probably use
"~/.bombz", in Windows something like
"C:\Documen ts And Settings\<user> \Applicacation Data\Bombz".

There are plenty of messages in the archives for this group about how to
find the correct location in Windows, but what about Mac OS? There I
don't know the correct location for this sort of thing at all. And there
are other, more obscure systems like RISC OS (it may not have pygame but
it definitely has python). Surely this is something that's crying out
for an official function in os or sys.

This works on Win XP. Not sure if it will work on Linux.

import os

parent = os.path.split(o s.path.abspath( os.sys.argv[0]))[0]
file = parent + os.sep + '.bombz'

Cheers,
Ron

Since you've gone to the trouble to use os.path functions why not use

file = os.path.join(pa rent, 'bombz')

regards
Steve
--
Steve Holden [phone] [phone]
Holden Web LLC www.holdenweb.com
PyCon TX 2006 www.pycon.org

[rbt]

On Tue, 2005-09-20 at 23:03 +0100, Tony Houghton wrote:

I'm using pygame to write a game called Bombz which needs to save some
data in a directory associated with it. In Unix/Linux I'd probably use
"~/.bombz", in Windows something like
"C:\Documen ts And Settings\<user> \Applicacation Data\Bombz".

There are plenty of messages in the archives for this group about how to
find the correct location in Windows, but what about Mac OS?

~/.bombz works equally well on OSX.

[Mike Meyer]

rbt <rb*@athop1.ath .vt.edu> writes:

On Tue, 2005-09-20 at 23:03 +0100, Tony Houghton wrote:

I'm using pygame to write a game called Bombz which needs to save some
data in a directory associated with it. In Unix/Linux I'd probably use
"~/.bombz", in Windows something like
"C:\Documen ts And Settings\<user> \Applicacation Data\Bombz".

There are plenty of messages in the archives for this group about how to
find the correct location in Windows, but what about Mac OS?

~/.bombz works equally well on OSX.

But Mac users - as opposed to Unix geeks - will expect to find it in
~/Library/Application Support/Bombz.

Us unix geeks can symlink that to ~/.bombz if we use the application
on both platforms.

<mike
--
Mike Meyer <mw*@mired.or g> http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/
Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information.

On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 00:23:56 +1000
Steven D'Aprano wrote:

I wish the Linux Standard Base folks would specify that settings files
should all go into a subdirectory like ~/settings rather than filling up
the home directory with cruft. That was acceptable in the days when people
only looked at their files with ls, but in these days of GUI file
managers, it is ridiculous that there are more than 100 dot files and
directories in my home directory.
So it is the very rationale why dot-files historically considered as
"hidden" in all unix shells and filemanagers.
<tilting at windmills>

Can I ask developers to break with the obsolete and annoying habit of
creating user-specific config files as ~/.app-name and use
~/settings/app-name instead?

</tilting at windmills>

There is an other way around: look at your home dir as if it is your
"settings" dir and don't clutter it with files other than application
config dot-files. Just make ~/files/, ~/bin/ ~/lib/ etc. for it.

--
jk

[Ron Adam]

Steve Holden wrote:

Ron Adam wrote:

Tony Houghton wrote:

I'm using pygame to write a game called Bombz which needs to save some
data in a directory associated with it. In Unix/Linux I'd probably use
"~/.bombz", in Windows something like
"C:\Documen ts And Settings\<user> \Applicacation Data\Bombz".

There are plenty of messages in the archives for this group about how to
find the correct location in Windows, but what about Mac OS? There I
don't know the correct location for this sort of thing at all. And there
are other, more obscure systems like RISC OS (it may not have pygame but
it definitely has python). Surely this is something that's crying out
for an official function in os or sys.

This works on Win XP. Not sure if it will work on Linux.

import os

parent = os.path.split(o s.path.abspath( os.sys.argv[0]))[0]
file = parent + os.sep + '.bombz'

Cheers,
Ron

Since you've gone to the trouble to use os.path functions why not use

file = os.path.join(pa rent, 'bombz')

It just didn't come to mind first. I don't use os.path that often.

Thanks. :-)

regards
Steve

[Ron Adam]

Tony Houghton wrote:

> This works on Win XP. Not sure if it will work on Linux.
>
> import os
>
> parent = os.path.split(o s.path.abspath( os.sys.argv[0]))[0]
> file = parent + os.sep + '.bombz'

Ooh, no, I don't want saved data to go in the installation directory. In
general that practice encourages people to run with Admin access, and
it's about time Windows users were discouraged from that.

Yes, it occurred to me you didn't want to do that after I posted.

Looks like maybe the correct place would be as you suggested, but maybe
doing it this way would be better.

import os
user = os.path.join( os.environ["USERPROFIL E"],
'Application Data',
'Bombz' )
Cheers,
Ron