[jasonjayr]

It also enables you do things like:

a) store caches & libdata on different disk

b) consistently 'reset' cached data for kiosk style logins

c) make config read-only, or reset to a known good state

d) Roaming profiles where the cache is excluded from sync across machines

Most computers + home directories are 'personal' where this largly doesn't matter, but there are often sound operational reasons for this seperation in cases where you are responsible for a fleet of computers. I too perfer the 'everything related to this app in one dir' approach. Crazy idea: for apps adhering to XDG, you could point all these vars at a directory under a FUSE-style mount, which then remaps the storage any way you'd like. :)