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[Python-ideas] A standard location for Python configuration files.

Ben Finney ben+python at benfinney.id.au
Thu Oct 22 14:09:52 CEST 2009 
Christian Heimes <lists at cheimes.de> writes:

> Configuration directories are usually suffixed with ".d". How about
> ~/.python.d/?

No, configuration directories are not usually named with a ‘.d’ suffix.

A configuration directory named with a ‘.d’ suffix is a usage that has
the specific connotation of “when reading the configuration, read *all
files* in this directory as a unified set of configuration settings”.

Examples from a Debian system I have access to include ‘/etc/cron.d/’,
‘/etc/logrotate.d/’, ‘/etc/apache/conf.d/’, ‘/etc/fonts.d/’,
‘/etc/rc2.d/’. (There are exceptions that don't follow that semantic as
well, like ‘/etc/init.d/’, ‘$HOME/.emacs.d/’, and ‘/etc/pam.d/’. It's
not a universally-honoured convention.)

Whereas “directory containing discrete configuration files, each of
which will be read only under specific circumstances” are generally
*not* named with a ‘.d’ suffix. If you're going to have a set of
discretely-interpreted configuration files, it's best to avoid naming it
with the ‘.d’ suffix.

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Ben Finney
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