Artix Linux Forum

[SOLVED] New folders being created on their own after update.

27 August 2021, 02:37:44

Hello, I am not sure is this the best place to post this but here it goes.
Lately I've been seeing folders being created in my /home/Documents/ folder after updating my system, and even tho I delete this folders they keep coming back for no reason I've never experienced something like this on my previous distros so I don't know how to solve it. It creates  new set of "Downloads , Music , Pictures , Templates and Videos" . I've searched my pacman logs for the day this folders where created it says 26.08.2021 and this are the updates from that day :

 bc (1.07.1-4 -> 1.07.1-4.1)
fuse2 (2.9.9-4 -> 2.9.9-4.1)
 gc (8.0.4-4 -> 8.0.4-4.1)
 openssl (1.1.1.k-1 -> 1.1.1.l-1)
libcap (2.51-1 -> 2.53-1)
 lib32-libcap (2.51-1 -> 2.53-1)
libarchive (3.5.1-1 -> 3.5.2-1)
libcroco (0.6.13-2 -> 0.6.13-2.1)
 libdaemon (0.14-5 -> 0.14-5.1)
 libtar (1.2.20-5 -> 1.2.20-5.1)
 libthai (0.1.28-2 -> 0.1.28-2.1)
libyaml (0.2.5-1 -> 0.2.5-1.1)
 pkgfile (21-2 -> 21-2.1)
 rest (0.8.1-3 -> 0.8.1-3.1)
 slang (2.3.2-2 -> 2.3.2-2.1)
 unzip (6.0-14 -> 6.0-14.1)
 usbutils (013-1 -> 014-1)
 winetricks (20210206-1 -> 20210825-1)
 xfsprogs (5.12.0-1 -> 5.13.0-1)

Hope this helps, I really want to get to the end of this.

Re: New folders being created on their own after update.

Reply #1 – 27 August 2021, 03:59:09

Most likely it's not the system update. Tons of desktop programs (especially browsers) will attempt to create these directories if they don't exist. The proper solution is editing /home/$USER/.config/user-dirs.dirs and setting the variables within so they all point to the same directory (just deleting the variables or the whole file will cause them to come back on their default locations).

Re: New folders being created on their own after update.

Reply #2 – 27 August 2021, 04:02:51

I have most of those installed myself and I am not seeing this happen on my system

Re: New folders being created on their own after update.

Reply #3 – 27 August 2021, 12:21:30

Are you running LXQT? 

LXQT is picky about these directories.  What I have done in the past is to create a hidden directory in my home called .NONE.  Then as @capezotte suggests, to change the unwanted directory variables to point to .NONE.

You can also set these variables in LXQT Session Settings.

Re: New folders being created on their own after update.

Reply #4 – 27 August 2021, 12:37:32

Those are XDG user dirs. They are created automatically by running xdg-user-dirs-update. This thing can be configured via ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs and ~/.config/user-dirs.locale.

Check if xdg-user-dirs.desktop is anywhere in your autostart folders. You can delete it or configure as you wish.

Re: New folders being created on their own after update.

Reply #5 – 27 August 2021, 14:13:44

First and foremost thanks for all the replays guys.
Second yes , I do use LXQT and the thing @dxrobertson mentioned sounds interesting enough since this would make it hidden while in normal view of the folders and it wouldn't bother me this much.

@capezotte This is the output of my ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs :
XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"
XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Downloads"
XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="$HOME/Templates"
XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR="$HOME/Public"
XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/Documents"
XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME/Music"
XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME/Pictures"
XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="$HOME/Videos"
 
Seems normal right? But why does it chose my ~/Documents to create all this files in there? It doesn't fit the profile also the ~/.config/user-dirs.locale just shows " C "  inside. I am worried should I just try giving this variables my full user name like /home/user/ ... I might just go with the first solution with .none !

Re: New folders being created on their own after update.

Reply #6 – 27 August 2021, 14:18:18

Ok I think I solved it with disabling "User folders update"  in the Application autostart section as @VictorBrand mentioned. Did not see this before or I am just blind to these straightforward solutions sometimes.

Anyways this can be marked as solved. Thanks all!