[PATCH] home: Let user configure XDG base directories.

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Andrew Tropin
Antero Mejr

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Submitted by: Antero Mejr

Severity: normal

Antero Mejr wrote on 12 Dec 2022 04:00

Recipients:(address . guix-patches@gnu.org)(name . Antero Mejr)(address . antero@mailbox.org)

Message-ID:20221212030049.4725-1-antero@mailbox.org

* gnu/home.scm (home-environment)[base-xdg-configuration]: New field.
* gnu/home/services/xdg.scm (ensure-xdg-base-dirs-on-activation): Make
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR directory if the configuration changes it from the default.
---
Allows making a runtime dir at ~/.local/runtime (or any other dir),
so users don't have to set up elogind or other greeters/PAM modules.

 gnu/home.scm              | 9 +++++++--
 gnu/home/services/xdg.scm | 7 ++++++-
 2 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

Toggle diff (54 lines)diff --git a/gnu/home.scm b/gnu/home.scm
index c95d1e0818..f100b575e3 100644
--- a/gnu/home.scm
+++ b/gnu/home.scm
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ (define-module (gnu home)
             home-environment-essential-services
             home-environment-services
             home-environment-location
+            home-environment-base-xdg-configuration
 
             home-environment-with-provenance
 
@@ -71,7 +72,10 @@ (define-record-type* <home-environment> home-environment
   (location           home-environment-location            ; <location>
                       (default (and=> (current-source-location)
                                       source-properties->location))
-                      (innate)))
+                      (innate))
+
+  (base-xdg-configuration home-environment-base-xdg-configuration
+                          (default (home-xdg-base-directories-configuration))))
 
 (define (home-environment-default-essential-services he)
   "Return the list of essential services for home environment."
@@ -83,7 +87,8 @@ (define (home-environment-default-essential-services he)
    (service home-symlink-manager-service-type)
 
    (service home-fontconfig-service-type)
-   (service home-xdg-base-directories-service-type)
+   (service home-xdg-base-directories-service-type
+            (home-environment-base-xdg-configuration he))
    (service home-shell-profile-service-type)
 
    (service home-service-type)
diff --git a/gnu/home/services/xdg.scm b/gnu/home/services/xdg.scm
index 865f8b81d7..b62580461e 100644
--- a/gnu/home/services/xdg.scm
+++ b/gnu/home/services/xdg.scm
@@ -133,7 +133,12 @@ (define (ensure-xdg-base-dirs-on-activation config)
                         (configuration-field-name field) 'upper))))
                  ;; XDG_RUNTIME_DIR shouldn't be created during activation
                  ;; and will be provided by elogind or other service.
-                 (and (not (string=? "XDG_RUNTIME_DIR" variable))
+                 ;; But if the user changes the value from the default,
+                 ;; then we can make XDG_RUNTIME_DIR.
+                 (and (or (not (string=? "XDG_RUNTIME_DIR" variable))
+                          (not (string=? ((configuration-field-getter field)
+                                          config)
+                                         "${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR:-/run/user/$UID}")))
                       variable)))
              home-xdg-base-directories-configuration-fields)))
 
-- 
2.38.1

Andrew Tropin wrote on 13 Dec 2022 05:25

Recipients:

Message-ID:87cz8o9bgz.fsf@trop.in

On 2022-12-12 03:00, Antero Mejr via Guix-patches via wrote:

Toggle quote (43 lines)> * gnu/home.scm (home-environment)[base-xdg-configuration]: New field.
> * gnu/home/services/xdg.scm (ensure-xdg-base-dirs-on-activation): Make
> XDG_RUNTIME_DIR directory if the configuration changes it from the default.
> ---
> Allows making a runtime dir at ~/.local/runtime (or any other dir),
> so users don't have to set up elogind or other greeters/PAM modules.
>
>  gnu/home.scm              | 9 +++++++--
>  gnu/home/services/xdg.scm | 7 ++++++-
>  2 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/gnu/home.scm b/gnu/home.scm
> index c95d1e0818..f100b575e3 100644
> --- a/gnu/home.scm
> +++ b/gnu/home.scm
> @@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ (define-module (gnu home)
>              home-environment-essential-services
>              home-environment-services
>              home-environment-location
> +            home-environment-base-xdg-configuration
>  
>              home-environment-with-provenance
>  
> @@ -71,7 +72,10 @@ (define-record-type* <home-environment> home-environment
>    (location           home-environment-location            ; <location>
>                        (default (and=> (current-source-location)
>                                        source-properties->location))
> -                      (innate)))
> +                      (innate))
> +
> +  (base-xdg-configuration home-environment-base-xdg-configuration
> +                          (default (home-xdg-base-directories-configuration))))
>  
>  (define (home-environment-default-essential-services he)
>    "Return the list of essential services for home environment."
> @@ -83,7 +87,8 @@ (define (home-environment-default-essential-services he)
>     (service home-symlink-manager-service-type)
>  
>     (service home-fontconfig-service-type)
> -   (service home-xdg-base-directories-service-type)
> +   (service home-xdg-base-directories-service-type
> +            (home-environment-base-xdg-configuration he))

This change is not needed, you can set xdg dirs by extending

home-xdg-base-directories-service-type with adjusted

home-xdg-base-directories-configuration.

Toggle quote (21 lines)>     (service home-shell-profile-service-type)
>  
>     (service home-service-type)
> diff --git a/gnu/home/services/xdg.scm b/gnu/home/services/xdg.scm
> index 865f8b81d7..b62580461e 100644
> --- a/gnu/home/services/xdg.scm
> +++ b/gnu/home/services/xdg.scm
> @@ -133,7 +133,12 @@ (define (ensure-xdg-base-dirs-on-activation config)
>                          (configuration-field-name field) 'upper))))
>                   ;; XDG_RUNTIME_DIR shouldn't be created during activation
>                   ;; and will be provided by elogind or other service.
> -                 (and (not (string=? "XDG_RUNTIME_DIR" variable))
> +                 ;; But if the user changes the value from the default,
> +                 ;; then we can make XDG_RUNTIME_DIR.
> +                 (and (or (not (string=? "XDG_RUNTIME_DIR" variable))
> +                          (not (string=? ((configuration-field-getter field)
> +                                          config)
> +                                         "${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR:-/run/user/$UID}")))
>                        variable)))
>               home-xdg-base-directories-configuration-fields)))

There is no way to understand upfront if directory containing

XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is writable and this is why it's a good idea to delegate

initialization of it to external thing and never try to create it here,

even if it has non-default value.

But in case you are sure it's writable and want to ensure the directory

created, just be this thing managing and providing XDG_RUNTIME_DIR and

extend activation script with the following G-expression:

#~(mkdir-p (getenv "XDG_RUNTIME_DIR"))

The full snippet:

Toggle snippet (6 lines)

(simple-service

'ensure-xdg-runtime-dir-exists

home-activation-service-type

#~(mkdir-p (getenv "XDG_RUNTIME_DIR")))

-- 
Best regards,
Andrew Tropin

Antero Mejr wrote on 13 Dec 2022 16:53

Recipients:(name . Andrew Tropin)(address . andrew@trop.in)

Message-ID:87y1rbthce.fsf@mailbox.org

Andrew Tropin <andrew@trop.in> writes:

Toggle quote (5 lines)

> There is no way to understand upfront if directory containing

> XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is writable and this is why it's a good idea to delegate

> initialization of it to external thing and never try to create it here,

> even if it has non-default value.

Thank you for the snippet, that's a much better way of fixing my issue.

I still think guix home should (by default) be able to use all its

features without the requirement of having external programs installed.

For example, suppose you have a server that you want to set up your home

environment on, for when you login to do sysadmin tasks. That server

wouldn't have %desktop-services (elogind), nor would it have a custom

greeter like greetd. So XDG_RUNTIME_DIR will be unset.

If XDG_RUNTIME_DIR does not exist, can we make a fallback path to have

guix home put the shepherd socket and on-first-login-executed flag file

in ~/.local/var/run (or somewhere else writable) instead?

Andrew Tropin wrote on 7 Aug 2023 08:57

Recipients:(name . Antero Mejr)(address . antero@mailbox.org)

Message-ID:87350vl4pq.fsf@trop.in

On 2022-12-13 15:53, Antero Mejr wrote:

Toggle quote (20 lines)> Andrew Tropin <andrew@trop.in> writes:
>> There is no way to understand upfront if directory containing
>> XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is writable and this is why it's a good idea to delegate
>> initialization of it to external thing and never try to create it here,
>> even if it has non-default value.
>
> Thank you for the snippet, that's a much better way of fixing my issue.
>
> I still think guix home should (by default) be able to use all its
> features without the requirement of having external programs installed.
>
> For example, suppose you have a server that you want to set up your home
> environment on, for when you login to do sysadmin tasks. That server
> wouldn't have %desktop-services (elogind), nor would it have a custom
> greeter like greetd. So XDG_RUNTIME_DIR will be unset.
>
> If XDG_RUNTIME_DIR does not exist, can we make a fallback path to have
> guix home put the shepherd socket and on-first-login-executed flag file
> in ~/.local/var/run (or somewhere else writable) instead?

Without automatic cleanup (which is the case for elogind, pam_rundir and

other options providing XDG_RUNTIME_DIR) it will likely missbehave.

It's much trickier than it seems on the first sight. Theoretically it's

possible, but requires a lot of additional work to do it right.

In fact on-first-login script is a kinda hack to make shepherd started

somehow, but running user's shepherd is tricky on its own. Shutting it

down correctly (and all the processes managed by it) is even more

challenging. AFAIK, there is no easy and straightforward solution (even

in other init systems that we can quickly borrow), so it will require

time and effort to carefully design and implement it.

If you want to work on it - send you ideas, research and patches for the

possible solutions, I'll share my input :)

Best regards,

Andrew Tropin

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