LMMS / LMMS/lmms

XDG Base Directory

Open
#5,869 5 comments 7 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

@sqrvrt is already working on this.

Since Feb 17, 2026.

  • #8264 by @sqrvrt — open
enhancement
Dominant language
C++
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Forks
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

On Linux, in order to reduce the clutter in the user's home directory, LMMS could use the XDG Base Directory specification (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/XDG_Base_Directory) for its configuration file (.lmmsrc.xml).

For backwards compatibility, the configuration would be read initially from the current file location (~/.lmmsrc.xml). If not found, it would be read from ```$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/lmms/lmmsrc.xml```, with ```$XDG_CONFIG_HOME``` defaulting to ```$HOME/.config``` if not set.

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by locating the code that reads and writes ~/.lmmsrc.xml, then inspect how Linux-specific configuration paths are handled. Implement the specified lookup order: the existing home-directory file first, followed by $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/lmms/lmmsrc.xml or its $HOME/.config default. Done means both locations work while preserving the legacy fallback.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp, linux
Domain
operating-systems
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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