.java in my home directory

[Zearin]

I'm running Oxygen 12.2 on OS X 10.6.

Questions
I noticed that there is a .java in my home directory with just one file inside: .com.oxygenxml.rk . I was wondering…

• what is the purpose of this file?
• is it from an older version of Oxygen? (I've been using it since around…version 10, I believe, but I'm not 100% sure)

Motivation
I ask because I’m trying to keep clutter in my home directory to a minimum. To do this I have moved relevant dotfiles under ~/.config/ (which is part of the XDG Base Directory Specification).

Follow-Up
If it turns out the file is necessary, could you put in a request to add support for the XDG Base Directory Spec? Doing so is trivial, and amounts to the following pseudocode:

Code: Select all

if ($XDG_CONFIG_HOME is defined) 

    DOTFILE_PATH=$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/java/com.oxygenxml.rk

else

    DOTFILE_PATH=~/.java/.com.oxygenxml.rk

[sorin_ristache]

Hello,

No Oxygen version ever created a .java directory on disk. Oxygen creates only the .com.oxygenxml.editor or .com.oxygenxml.author directory in the Library/Preferences subdirectory on the home directory of the current OS X user and stores there the user preferences. Older versions created that folder in the user home folder, but it always had this name, that is .com.oxygenxml.editor or .com.oxygenxml.author.

Some temporary files may also be created in the temporary directory of the current user (the value of the java.io.tmpdir property), but a .java directory is never created.


Regards,
Sorin

[Zearin]

“Bye-bye, .java!”

Thanks.

[adrian]

Zearin,

Actually Oxygen creates and needs that file(~/.java/.com.oxygenxml.rk) on Linux and Mac. The file contains a simple UUID that's used for identifying the user between Oxygen sessions.

Unfortunately the file cannot be relocated, its path is hard-coded into the user's home folder.

Anyway, the file will be recreated the next time you start Oxygen. Leave it be to avoid any trouble with the persistence of some options.

Regards,
Adrian

[Zearin]

Crap!


Follow-Up Questions

• Might this file be relocatable in a future Oxygen update?
• For all platforms where this file is necessary, might it be possible to check for locations in the FreeDesktop.org Standards Specifications? (Specifically, the Base Directory Spec seems the document with the most potential )
• For OS X, might this file’s role be assumed by a more “OS X”-like location (somewhere in ~/Library )?

[adrian]

I've added a task to our issue tracking tool to analyze what it would take to move this file to a different location. I've mentioned your concerns. We'll let you know as soon as a decision is made.

Regards,
Adrian

[Zearin]

Thanks—you are the best!