KStandardDirs Class Reference

from PyKDE4.kdecore import *

Detailed Description

Site-independent access to standard KDE directories.

Author:: Stephan Kulow <coolo@kde.org> and Sirtaj Singh Kang <taj@kde.org>

This is one of the most central classes in kdelibs as it provides a basic service: It knows where the files reside on the user's hard disk. And it's meant to be the only one that knows -- to make the real location as transparent as possible to both the user and the applications.

To this end it insulates the application from all information and applications always refer to a file with a resource type (e.g. icon) and a filename (e.g. <tt>khexdit.xpm</tt>). In an ideal world the application would make no assumption where this file is and leave it up to KStandardDirs.findResource("apps", "Home.desktop") to apply this knowledge to return <tt>/opt/kde/share/applnk/Home.desktop</tt> or .locate("data", "kgame/background.jpg") to return <tt>/opt/kde/share/apps/kgame/background.jpg</tt>

The main idea behind KStandardDirs is that there are several toplevel prefixes below which the files lie. One of these prefixes is the one where the user installed kdelibs, one is where the application was installed, and one is <tt>$HOME/.kde</tt>, but there may be even more. Under these prefixes there are several well defined suffixes where specific resource types are to be found. For example, for the resource type "html" the suffixes could be share/doc/HTML and share/doc/kde/HTML. So the search algorithm basically appends to each prefix each registered suffix and tries to locate the file there. To make the thing even more complex, it's also possible to register absolute paths that KStandardDirs looks up after not finding anything in the former steps. They can be useful if the user wants to provide specific directories that aren't in his <tt>$HOME/.kde</tt> directory for, for example, icons.

Standard resources that kdelibs allocates are:\n

apps - Applications menu (.desktop files).

autostart - Autostart directories (both XDG and kde-specific)

cache - Cached information (e.g. favicons, web-pages)

cgi - CGIs to run from kdehelp.

config - Configuration files.

data - Where applications store data.

emoticons - Emoticons themes

exe - Executables in $prefix/bin. findExe() for a function that takes $PATH into account.

html - HTML documentation.

icon - Icons, see KIconLoader.

kcfg - KConfigXT config files.

lib - Libraries.

locale - Translation files for KLocale.

mime - Mime types defined by KDE-specific .desktop files.

module - Module (dynamically loaded library).

qtplugins - Qt plugins (dynamically loaded objects for Qt)

services - Services.

servicetypes - Service types.

sound - Application sounds.

templates - Templates for the "Create new file" functionality.

wallpaper - Wallpapers.

tmp - Temporary files (specific for both current host and current user)

socket - UNIX Sockets (specific for both current host and current user)

xdgconf-menu - Freedesktop.org standard location for menu layout (.menu) files.

xdgdata-apps - Freedesktop.org standard location for application desktop files.

xdgdata-dirs - Freedesktop.org standard location for menu descriptions (.directory files).

xdgdata-mime - Freedesktop.org standard location for MIME type definitions.

xdgdata-icon - Freedesktop.org standard location for icons.

xdgdata-pixmap - Gnome-compatibility location for pixmaps.

A type that is added by the class KApplication if you use it, is appdata. This one makes the use of the type data a bit easier as it appends the name of the application. So while you had to .locate("data", "appname/filename") so you can also write .locate("appdata", "filename") if your KApplication instance is called "appname" (as set via KApplication's constructor or KAboutData, if you use the global KStandardDirs object KGlobal.dirs()). Please note though that you cannot use the "appdata" type if you intend to use it in an applet for Kicker because 'appname' would be "Kicker" instead of the applet's name. Therefore, for applets, you've got to work around this by using .locate("data", "appletname/filename").

KStandardDirs supports the following environment variables:

KDEDIRS - This may set an additional number of directory prefixes to

search for resources. The directories should be separated by <tt>':'</tt>. The directories are searched in the order they are specified.

KDEHOME - The directory where changes are saved to. This directory is

used to search for resources first. If KDEHOME is not specified it defaults to "$HOME/.kde"

KDEROOTHOME - Like KDEHOME, but used for the root user.

If KDEROOTHOME is not set it defaults to the <tt>.kde</tt> directory in the home directory of root, usually "/root/.kde". Note that the setting of $HOME is ignored in this case.

See also:: KGlobalSettings

On The Usage Of 'locate' and 'locateLocal'

Typical KDE applications use resource files in one out of three ways:

1) A resource file is read but is never written. A system default is supplied but the user can override this default in his local .kde directory:

    // Code example
    myFile = KStandardDirs.locate("appdata", "groups.lst");
    myData =  myReadGroups(myFile); // myFile may be null

2) A resource file is read and written. If the user has no local version of the file the system default is used. The resource file is always written to the users local .kde directory.

    // Code example
    myFile = KStandardDirs.locate("appdata", "groups.lst")
    myData =  myReadGroups(myFile);
    ...
    doSomething(myData);
    ...
    myFile = KStandardDirs.locateLocal("appdata", "groups.lst");
    myWriteGroups(myFile, myData);

3) A resource file is read and written. No system default is used if the user has no local version of the file. The resource file is always written to the users local .kde directory.

    // Code example
    myFile = KStandardDirs.locateLocal("appdata", "groups.lst");
    myData =  myReadGroups(myFile);
    ...
    doSomething(myData);
    ...
    myFile = KStandardDirs.locateLocal("appdata", "groups.lst");
    myWriteGroups(myFile, myData);

Enumerations
SearchOption	{ NoSearchOptions, Recursive, NoDuplicates, IgnoreExecBit } Typesafe wrapper: SearchOptions
Methods
	__init__ (self)
	__init__ (self, KStandardDirs a0)
bool	addCustomized (self, KConfig config)
	addPrefix (self, QString dir)
bool	addResourceDir (self, QString type, QString absdir, bool priority=1)
bool	addResourceType (self, QString type, QString relativename, bool priority=1)
bool	addResourceType (self, QString type, QString basetype, QString relativename, bool priority=1)
bool	addResourceType (self, QString type, QString basetype, QString relativename, bool priority=1)
	addXdgConfigPrefix (self, QString dir)
	addXdgDataPrefix (self, QString dir)
QStringList	allTypes (self)
long	calcResourceHash (self, QString type, QString filename, KStandardDirs.SearchOptions options=KStandardDirs.NoSearchOptions)
QStringList	findAllResources (self, QString type, QString filter=QString(), KStandardDirs.SearchOptions options=KStandardDirs.NoSearchOptions)
QStringList	findAllResources (self, QString type, QString filter, KStandardDirs.SearchOptions options, QStringList relPaths)
QStringList	findDirs (self, QString type, QString reldir)
QString	findResource (self, QString type, QString filename)
QString	findResourceDir (self, QString type, QString filename)
bool	isRestrictedResource (self, QString type, QString relPath=QString())
QString	kfsstnd_prefixes (self)
QString	kfsstnd_xdg_conf_prefixes (self)
QString	kfsstnd_xdg_data_prefixes (self)
QString	localkdedir (self)
QString	localxdgconfdir (self)
QString	localxdgdatadir (self)
QString	relativeLocation (self, QString type, QString absPath)
QStringList	resourceDirs (self, QString type)
QString	saveLocation (self, QString type, QString suffix=QString(), bool create=1)
Static Methods
bool	checkAccess (QString pathname, int mode)
bool	exists (QString fullPath)
int	findAllExe (QStringList list, QString appname, QString pathstr=QString(), KStandardDirs.SearchOptions options=KStandardDirs.NoSearchOptions)
QString	findExe (QString appname, QString pathstr=QString(), KStandardDirs.SearchOptions options=KStandardDirs.NoSearchOptions)
QString	installPath (QString type)
QString	kde_default (QString type)
QString	locate (QString type, QString filename, KComponentData cData=KGlobal.mainComponent())
QString	locateLocal (QString type, QString filename, KComponentData cData=KGlobal.mainComponent())
QString	locateLocal (QString type, QString filename, bool createDir, KComponentData cData=KGlobal.mainComponent())
bool	makeDir (QString dir, int mode=0755)
QString	realFilePath (QString filename)
QString	realPath (QString dirname)
QStringList	systemPaths (QString pstr=QString())

Method Documentation

__init__ ( self )

KStandardDirs' constructor. It just initializes the caches. Note that you should normally not call this, but use KGlobal.dirs() instead, in order to reuse the same KStandardDirs object as much as possible.

Creating other KStandardDirs instances can be useful in other threads.

Thread safety note: using a shared KStandardDirs instance (such as KGlobal.dirs()) in multiple threads is thread-safe if you only call the readonly "lookup" methods (findExe, resourceDirs, findDirs, findResourceDir, findAllResources, saveLocation, relativeLocation). The methods that modify the object (all those starting with "add", basically all non-const methods) are obviously not thread-safe; set things up before creating threads.

__init__	(	self,
		KStandardDirs	a0
	)

bool addCustomized	(	self,
		KConfig	config
	)

Reads customized entries out of the given config object and add them via addResourceDirs().

Parameters:

config

The object the entries are read from. This should contain global config files

Returns:: true if new config paths have been added from config.

addPrefix	(	self,
		QString	dir
	)

Adds another search dir to front of the fsstnd list.

When compiling kdelibs, the prefix is added to this.

KDEDIRS is taken into account

Additional dirs may be loaded from kdeglobals.

Parameters:

dir

The directory to append relative paths to.

bool addResourceDir	(	self,
		QString	type,
		QString	absdir,
		bool	priority=1
	)

Adds absolute path at the beginning of the search path for particular types (for example in case of icons where the user specifies extra paths).

You shouldn't need this function in 99% of all cases besides adding user-given paths.

Parameters:

	type	Specifies a short descriptive string to access files of this type.
	absdir	Points to directory where to look for this specific type. Non-existent directories may be saved but pruned.
	priority	if true, the directory is added before any other, otherwise after

Returns:: true if successful, false otherwise.

bool addResourceType	(	self,
		QString	type,
		QString	relativename,
		bool	priority=1
	)

Adds suffixes for types.

You may add as many as you need, but it is advised that there is exactly one to make writing definite. All basic types are added by addKDEDefaults(), but for those you can add more relative paths as well.

The later a suffix is added, the higher its priority. Note, that the suffix should end with / but doesn't have to start with one (as prefixes should end with one). So adding a suffix for app_pics would look like KGlobal.dirs()->addResourceType("app_pics", "data" ,"app/pics");

Parameters:

	type	Specifies a short descriptive string to access files of this type.
	relativename	Specifies a directory relative to the root of the KFSSTND.
	priority	if true, the directory is added before any other, otherwise after

Returns:: true if successful, false otherwise.

Deprecated:

bool addResourceType	(	self,
		QString	type,
		QString	basetype,
		QString	relativename,
		bool	priority=1
	)

Adds suffixes for types.

Parameters:

	type	Specifies a short descriptive string to access files of this type.
	basetype	Specifies an already known type, or 0 if none
	relativename	Specifies a directory relative to the basetype
	priority	if true, the directory is added before any other, otherwise after

Returns:: true if successful, false otherwise.

bool addResourceType	(	self,
		QString	type,
		QString	basetype,
		QString	relativename,
		bool	priority=1
	)

Internal:: - just to avoid unwanted overload

addXdgConfigPrefix	(	self,
		QString	dir
	)

Adds another search dir to front of the XDG_CONFIG_XXX list of prefixes. This prefix is only used for resources that start with "xdgconf-"

Parameters:

dir

The directory to append relative paths to.

addXdgDataPrefix	(	self,
		QString	dir
	)

Adds another search dir to front of the XDG_DATA_XXX list of prefixes. This prefix is only used for resources that start with "xdgdata-"

Parameters:

dir

The directory to append relative paths to.

QStringList allTypes ( self )

This function will return a list of all the types that KStandardDirs supports.

Returns:: All types that KDE supports

long calcResourceHash	(	self,
		QString	type,
		QString	filename,
		KStandardDirs.SearchOptions	options=KStandardDirs.NoSearchOptions
	)

Returns a number that identifies this version of the resource. When a change is made to the resource this number will change.

Parameters:

	type	The type of the wanted resource
	filename	A relative filename of the resource.
	options	If the flags includes Recursive, all resources are taken into account otherwise only the one returned by findResource().

Returns:: A number identifying the current version of the resource.

bool checkAccess	(	QString	pathname,
		int	mode
	)

Check, if a file may be accessed in a given mode. This is a wrapper around the access() system call. checkAccess() calls access() with the given parameters. If this is OK, checkAccess() returns true. If not, and W_OK is part of mode, it is checked if there is write access to the directory. If yes, checkAccess() returns true. In all other cases checkAccess() returns false.

Other than access() this function EXPLICITLY ignores non-existent files if checking for write access.

Parameters:

	pathname	The full path of the file you want to test
	mode	The access mode, as in the access() system call.

Returns:: Whether the access is allowed, true = Access allowed

bool exists	(	QString	fullPath
	)

Checks for existence and accessability of a file or directory. Faster than creating a QFileInfo first.

Parameters:

fullPath

the path to check. IMPORTANT: must end with a slash if expected to be a directory (and no slash for a file, obviously).

Returns:: true if the directory exists, false otherwise

int findAllExe	(	QStringList	list,
		QString	appname,
		QString	pathstr=QString(),
		KStandardDirs.SearchOptions	options=KStandardDirs.NoSearchOptions
	)

Finds all occurrences of an executable in the system path.

Parameters:

	list	will be filled with the pathnames of all the executables found. Will be empty if the executable was not found.
	appname	the name of the executable for which to search.
	pathstr	the path list which will be searched. If this is 0 (default), the $PATH environment variable will be searched.
	options	if the flags passed include IgnoreExecBit the path returned may not have the executable bit set.

Returns:: The number of executables found, 0 if none were found.

See also:: findExe()

QStringList findAllResources	(	self,
		QString	type,
		QString	filter=QString(),
		KStandardDirs.SearchOptions	options=KStandardDirs.NoSearchOptions
	)

Tries to find all resources with the specified type.

The function will look into all specified directories and return all filenames in these directories.

The "most local" files are returned before the "more global" files.

Parameters:

	type	The type of resource to locate directories for.
	filter	Only accept filenames that fit to filter. The filter may consist of an optional directory and a QRegExp wildcard expression. E.g. <tt>"images\*.jpg"</tt>. Use QString() if you do not want a filter.
	options	if the flags passed include Recursive, subdirectories will also be search; if NoDuplicates is passed then only entries with unique filenames will be returned eliminating duplicates.

Returns:: List of all the files whose filename matches the specified filter.

QStringList findAllResources	(	self,
		QString	type,
		QString	filter,
		KStandardDirs.SearchOptions	options,
		QStringList	relPaths
	)

Tries to find all resources with the specified type.

The function will look into all specified directories and return all filenames (full and relative paths) in these directories.

The "most local" files are returned before the "more global" files.

Parameters:

	type	The type of resource to locate directories for.
	filter	Only accept filenames that fit to filter. The filter may consist of an optional directory and a QRegExp wildcard expression. E.g. <tt>"images\*.jpg"</tt>. Use QString() if you do not want a filter.
	options	if the flags passed include Recursive, subdirectories will also be search; if NoDuplicates is passed then only entries with unique filenames will be returned eliminating duplicates.
	relPaths	The list to store the relative paths into These can be used later to .locate() the file

Returns:: List of all the files whose filename matches the specified filter.

QStringList findDirs	(	self,
		QString	type,
		QString	reldir
	)

Tries to find all directories whose names consist of the specified type and a relative path. So would findDirs("apps", "Settings") return

/opt/kde/share/applnk/Settings/

/home/joe/.kde/share/applnk/Settings/

Note that it appends / to the end of the directories, so you can use this right away as directory names.

Parameters:

	type	The type of the base directory.
	reldir	Relative directory.

Returns:: A list of matching directories, or an empty list if the resource specified is not found.

QString findExe	(	QString	appname,
		QString	pathstr=QString(),
		KStandardDirs.SearchOptions	options=KStandardDirs.NoSearchOptions
	)

Finds the executable in the system path.

A valid executable must be a file and have its executable bit set.

Parameters:

	appname	The name of the executable file for which to search. if this contains a path separator, it will be resolved according to the current working directory (shell-like behaviour).
	pathstr	The path which will be searched. If this is null (default), the $PATH environment variable will be searched.
	options	if the flags passed include IgnoreExecBit the path returned may not have the executable bit set.

Returns:: The path of the executable. If it was not found, it will return QString().

See also:: findAllExe()

QString findResource	(	self,
		QString	type,
		QString	filename
	)

Tries to find a resource in the following order:

All PREFIX/<relativename> paths (most recent first).

All absolute paths (most recent first).

The filename should be a filename relative to the base dir for resources. So is a way to get the path to libkdecore.la to findResource("lib", "libkdecore.la"). KStandardDirs will then look into the subdir lib of all elements of all prefixes ($KDEDIRS) for a file libkdecore.la and return the path to the first one it finds (e.g. /opt/kde/lib/libkdecore.la)

Parameters:

	type	The type of the wanted resource
	filename	A relative filename of the resource.

Returns:: A full path to the filename specified in the second argument, or QString() if not found.

QString findResourceDir	(	self,
		QString	type,
		QString	filename
	)

Tries to find the directory the file is in. It works the same as findResource(), but it doesn't return the filename but the name of the directory.

This way the application can access a couple of files that have been installed into the same directory without having to look for each file.

findResourceDir("lib", "libkdecore.la") would return the path of the subdir libkdecore.la is found first in (e.g. /opt/kde/lib/)

Parameters:

	type	The type of the wanted resource
	filename	A relative filename of the resource.

Returns:: The directory where the file specified in the second argument is located, or QString() if the type of resource specified is unknown or the resource cannot be found.

QString installPath	(	QString	type
	)

Returns:: the path where type was installed to by kdelibs. This is an absolute path and only one out of many search paths

bool isRestrictedResource	(	self,
		QString	type,
		QString	relPath=QString()
	)

Checks whether a resource is restricted as part of the KIOSK framework. When a resource is restricted it means that user- specific files in the resource are ignored.

E.g. by restricting the "wallpaper" resource, only system-wide installed wallpapers will be found by this class. Wallpapers installed under the $KDEHOME directory will be ignored.

Parameters:

	type	The type of the resource to check
	relPath	A relative path in the resource.

Returns:: True if the resource is restricted.

QString kde_default	(	QString	type
	)

This returns a default relative path for the standard KDE resource types. Below is a list of them so you get an idea of what this is all about.

data - share/apps

html - share/doc/HTML

icon - share/icon

config - share/config

pixmap - share/pixmaps

apps - share/applnk

sound - share/sounds

locale - share/locale

services - share/kde4/services

servicetypes - share/kde4/servicetypes

mime - share/mimelnk

cgi - cgi-bin

wallpaper - share/wallpapers

templates - share/templates

exe - bin

lib - lib[suffix]

module - lib[suffix]/kde4

qtplugins - lib[suffix]/kde4/plugins

kcfg - share/config.kcfg

emoticons - share/emoticons

xdgdata-apps - applications

xdgdata-icon - icons

xdgdata-pixmap - pixmaps

xdgdata-dirs - desktop-directories

xdgdata-mime - mime

xdgconf-menu - menus

Returns:: Static default for the specified resource. You should probably be using locate() or locateLocal() instead.

See also:: locate()

See also:: locateLocal()

QString kfsstnd_prefixes ( self )

Internal:: (for use by sycoca only)

QString kfsstnd_xdg_conf_prefixes ( self )

Internal:: (for use by sycoca only)

QString kfsstnd_xdg_data_prefixes ( self )

Internal:: (for use by sycoca only)

QString localkdedir ( self )

Returns the toplevel directory in which KStandardDirs will store things. Most likely <tt>$HOME/.kde</tt>. Don't use this function if you can use locateLocal()

Returns:: the toplevel directory

QString localxdgconfdir ( self )

Returns:: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME See also http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/basedir/draft/basedir-spec/basedir-spec.html

QString localxdgdatadir ( self )

Returns:: $XDG_DATA_HOME See also http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/basedir/draft/basedir-spec/basedir-spec.html

QString locate	(	QString	type,
		QString	filename,
		KComponentData	cData=KGlobal.mainComponent()
	)

This function is just for convenience. It simply calls instance->dirs()->\link KStandardDirs.findResource() findResource\endlink(type, filename).

Parameters:

	type	The type of the wanted resource, see KStandardDirs
	filename	A relative filename of the resource
	cData	The KComponentData object

Returns:: A full path to the filename specified in the second argument, or QString() if not found

QString locateLocal	(	QString	type,
		QString	filename,
		KComponentData	cData=KGlobal.mainComponent()
	)

This function is much like locate. However it returns a filename suitable for writing to. No check is made if the specified filename actually exists. Missing directories are created. If filename is only a directory, without a specific file, filename must have a trailing slash.

Parameters:

	type	The type of the wanted resource, see KStandardDirs
	filename	A relative filename of the resource
	cData	The KComponentData object

Returns:: A full path to the filename specified in the second argument, or QString() if not found

QString locateLocal	(	QString	type,
		QString	filename,
		bool	createDir,
		KComponentData	cData=KGlobal.mainComponent()
	)

This function is much like locate. No check is made if the specified filename actually exists. Missing directories are created if createDir is true. If filename is only a directory, without a specific file, filename must have a trailing slash.

Parameters:

	type	The type of the wanted resource, see KStandardDirs
	filename	A relative filename of the resource
	createDir	If true, missing directories are created, if false, no directory is created
	cData	The KComponentData object

Returns:: A full path to the filename specified in the second argument, or QString() if not found

bool makeDir	(	QString	dir,
		int	mode=0755
	)

Recursively creates still-missing directories in the given path.

The resulting permissions will depend on the current umask setting. <tt>permission = mode & ~umask</tt>.

Parameters:

	dir	Absolute path of the directory to be made.
	mode	Directory permissions.

Returns:: true if successful, false otherwise

QString realFilePath	(	QString	filename
	)

Expands all symbolic links and resolves references to '/./', '/../' and extra '/' characters in filename and returns the canonicalized absolute pathname. The resulting path will have no symbolic link, '/./' or '/../' components.

QString realPath	(	QString	dirname
	)

Expands all symbolic links and resolves references to '/./', '/../' and extra '/' characters in dirname and returns the canonicalized absolute pathname. The resulting path will have no symbolic link, '/./' or '/../' components.

QString relativeLocation	(	self,
		QString	type,
		QString	absPath
	)

Converts an absolute path to a path relative to a certain resource.

If "abs = .locate(resource, rel)" then "rel = relativeLocation(resource, abs)" and vice versa.

Parameters:

	type	The type of resource.
	absPath	An absolute path to make relative.

Returns:: A relative path relative to resource type that will find absPath. If no such relative path exists, absPath will be returned unchanged.

QStringList resourceDirs	(	self,
		QString	type
	)

This function is used internally by almost all other function as it serves and fills the directories cache.

Parameters:

type

The type of resource

Returns:: The list of possible directories for the specified type. The function updates the cache if possible. If the resource type specified is unknown, it will return an empty list. Note, that the directories are assured to exist beside the save location, which may not exist, but is returned anyway.

QString saveLocation	(	self,
		QString	type,
		QString	suffix=QString(),
		bool	create=1
	)

Finds a location to save files into for the given type in the user's home directory.

Parameters:

	type	The type of location to return.
	suffix	A subdirectory name. Makes it easier for you to create subdirectories. You can't pass filenames here, you _have_ to pass directory names only and add possible filename in that directory yourself. A directory name always has a trailing slash ('/').
	create	If set, saveLocation() will create the directories needed (including those given by suffix).

Returns:: A path where resources of the specified type should be saved, or QString() if the resource type is unknown.

QStringList systemPaths	(	QString	pstr=QString()
	)

Returns a QStringList list of pathnames in the system path.

Parameters:

pstr

The path which will be searched. If this is null (default), the $PATH environment variable will be searched.

Returns:: a QStringList list of pathnames in the system path.

Enumeration Documentation

SearchOption

Note:: It is necessary to wrap members of this enumeration in a SearchOptions instance when passing them to a method as group of flags. For example: SearchOptions( NoSearchOptions | Recursive)

Enumerator:

NoSearchOptions = 0
Recursive = 1
NoDuplicates = 2
IgnoreExecBit = 4

KStandardDirs Class Reference

Detailed Description

Enumerations

Methods

Static Methods

Method Documentation

Enumeration Documentation

Modules