beeware/toga

Local environment configuration is not respected for app file storage

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#2,867 opened on Sep 22, 2024

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buggood first issuegtklinuxqtwindows

Description

Describe the bug

Toga makes assumptions about which file paths to use for toga.Paths; this can conflict with local machine configuration that should affect arbitrary application storage. For instance, on GTK, if I configure my XDG env vars to something other than the default values, then Toga will ignore this.

Steps to reproduce

For the system, configure application storage with values other than the default and run a Toga app that creates filesystem content.

Expected behavior

Toga should respect local machine configuration for application storage. Given this configuration can be complex on any given platform, the platformdirs package provides nice abstractions. In the least, their logic should be used on Desktop, I think. Outside of Linux distros going rogue....this is also probably important for enterprise environments where IT wants apps to work in a certain way.

Screenshots

No response

Environment

  • Operating System: all
  • Python version: all
  • Software versions:
    • Toga: 0.4.7

Logs

No response

Additional context

I see that https://github.com/beeware/toga/pull/1964 confirms the same default behavior as platformdirs....but it seemed to have been a foregone conclusion that platformdirs would not become a dependency for Toga.

Contributor guide

Tech stack
python
Domain
desktop
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Basic Python knowledgeFamiliarity with Toga Paths API
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
65
Research direction
Investigate how Toga currently resolves file paths (e.g., in `toga/platform/gtk/paths.py`). Review PR #1964 which confirmed default behavior matches `platformdirs`, but the decision not to depend on that library was made. Consider alternatives like using `os.environ` or Python's `site` module to respect XDG env vars. The goal is to make Toga's path resolution configurable, especially on Linux where XDG variables are common in enterprise environments.