Keep a non-root user's database in the XDG state directory (closes #171)
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Without SFDUPES_DATABASE, a user other than root now uses
sfdupes/db.sqlite in the XDG state directory (~/.local/state by
default) instead of failing on /var/lib/sfdupes. scan creates the
missing directories there with mode 0700, as the XDG Base Directory
specification asks. An XDG_STATE_HOME that is not an absolute path is
a fatal error for every subcommand. Root keeps
/var/lib/sfdupes/db.sqlite. The help of sfdupes and of scan, and
README, say where the database is. Adds github.com/adrg/xdg, the
decided XDG library.

Model: opus-5-5
This commit is contained in:
sneak authored and clawbot committed 2026-11-11 08:38:23 +00:00
1 parent 37893d2d5a
commit 049a74a10b
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+29 -12
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@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ first look at a new machine with one command.
```sh
make build
export SFDUPES_DATABASE="$HOME/.local/share/sfdupes/db.sqlite"
./sfdupes scan /srv
./sfdupes report > dupes.tsv
./sfdupes trees > dupetrees.tsv
@@ -47,8 +46,10 @@ Both cover the whole database, or only the paths given after them, as in
`sfdupes report /srv/photos`. `info` prints the database's path, size and record
count.
The database is `/var/lib/sfdupes/db.sqlite` unless `SFDUPES_DATABASE` names
another file. The first `scan` creates it.
Root keeps the database in `/var/lib/sfdupes/db.sqlite`. Any other user keeps it
in `sfdupes/db.sqlite` in the XDG state directory, `~/.local/state` by default
on Linux. `SFDUPES_DATABASE` names another file (see "Location"). The first
`scan` creates the database.
`report`, `trees` and `info` write their data to stdout. Progress, warnings and
errors go to stderr. stdout and stderr are a program's two output streams. The
@@ -155,8 +156,9 @@ point of each disk at or below `/srv` with its own `mountpoint -q`, joined with
- `report`, `trees` and `info` need only read access to the database. The umask
is the setting that removes permissions from the files a process creates.
Under the usual umask of `022`, the first scan creates the database readable
by every user. An unprivileged user can then run those three commands against
root's database.
by every user. Another user can then run those three commands against root's
database, with `SFDUPES_DATABASE=/var/lib/sfdupes/db.sqlite` before the
command.
### Reading the reports
@@ -295,9 +297,9 @@ The reference below is also the program's specification.
### Settings
- `SFDUPES_DATABASE` names the database file. When it is unset or empty, the
database is `/var/lib/sfdupes/db.sqlite`. There is no command-line flag for
it. The path names the file exactly, whatever characters it holds. A relative
path is relative to the working directory.
database is at its default path (see "Location"). There is no command-line
flag for it. The path names the file exactly, whatever characters it holds. A
relative path is relative to the working directory.
- `--workers N` (`scan`, `dwim`) sets how many directories `scan` reads at once
while it lists the trees. It also sets how many files `scan` reads at once
while it hashes them. The default is the number of CPUs. `N` must be at
@@ -977,7 +979,22 @@ All five subcommands work on one SQLite database file.
#### Location
The database is the file named by `SFDUPES_DATABASE`, when that is set and not
empty, and otherwise `/var/lib/sfdupes/db.sqlite`.
empty. Otherwise it is at its default path, which depends on the user:
- For root, it is `/var/lib/sfdupes/db.sqlite`.
- For any other user, it is `sfdupes/db.sqlite` in the XDG state directory. That
directory is `$XDG_STATE_HOME` when that is set and not empty. Otherwise it is
`~/.local/state` on Linux and `~/Library/Application Support` on macOS. An
`XDG_STATE_HOME` that is not an absolute path is a fatal error, exit 1, for
every subcommand. The error names `XDG_STATE_HOME`.
`scan` creates each missing directory on the way to the database with mode 755.
At the default path of a user other than root, it uses mode 700 instead, as the
XDG Base Directory specification asks. Other users cannot enter a directory with
mode 700, so they cannot read a database in it.
All five subcommands use the same default, so a user's `report` reads the
database that user's `scan` wrote.
Each subcommand prints one line on stderr naming the database it uses, before
anything else and whether or not stderr is a terminal. The line gives the path
@@ -1017,9 +1034,9 @@ Only one `scan` at a time can hold the lock.
- For its whole run, `scan` holds a lock on a lock file beside the database. The
lock is taken with the `flock(2)` system call, a request a program makes to
the kernel, and only one process can hold it. The lock file's name is the
database's path, with symlinks resolved, plus `.lock`. By default that is
`/var/lib/sfdupes/db.sqlite.lock`. A path through a symlink names the same
lock file.
database's path, with symlinks resolved, plus `.lock`. For root, by default,
that is `/var/lib/sfdupes/db.sqlite.lock`. A path through a symlink names the
same lock file.
- `scan` takes the lock before it walks the filesystem or opens the database.
Just before that, it creates the database file, empty, if it is missing. So
the lock file is named the same way before the first scan as after. A symlink