Client: OS-specific data directory location

[rumkin]

Description

Default data directory location definition should be OS-specific and follow common practices. Storing blockchain data in home is usual behaviour for most blockchain software. In thee same time applications installed by OS's package manager store its data in one well-known place, for example MySQL on Ubuntu stores its data in /var/lib/mysql. This is prescribed by FHS (Filesystem Hierarchy Standard by Linux Foundation) which prescribes to put globally installed package data to /var/lib/<libname>, (FHS /var/lib). MacOS and Windows has such folders too.

While there is no some common solution where to store data in $HOME, there are some best practices to follow to do it in more convenient way.

Possible Implementation

For local installation: to put data into the next directories:

• Linux: $HOME/.local/lib/ethereumjs.
• MacOS $HOME/Library/Application Support/ethereumjs.
• Windows: C:/Users/<username>/AppData/ethereumjs.

For system package managers installations:

• Linux: /var/lib/ethereumjs.
• MacOS: /Library/Application Support/ethereumjs.
• Windows 10: C:/ProgramData.

Links

• SE question Where should a local executable be placed?
• SE question Where to store application data (non-user specific) on Linux?
• SE question: What's the most appropriate directory where to place files shared between users?

[ryanio]

once this is decided, it would be nice to add the admin_datadir endpoint to our rpc.

[holgerd77]

This would also still be nice to integrate.