XDGCACHEHOME

XDGCACHEHOME is not a standard environment variable defined by the XDG Base Directory Specification. It is likely a misspelling or a custom, nonstandard variable intended to designate the base directory for application cache data. The official and widely recognized variable for this purpose is XDG_CACHE_HOME.

In the XDG specification, XDG_CACHE_HOME specifies where cache files should be stored. If XDG_CACHE_HOME is not set, the default is typically a directory named .cache in the user’s home directory (for example, ~/.cache on Unix-like systems). Caches are intended for non-essential data that can be recreated or re-downloaded, and they may be cleared by the user or by system maintenance tools.

If XDGCACHEHOME is used in a script or application, it will only have an effect if the software explicitly reads that exact environment variable. Most software follows the XDG_CACHE_HOME convention and will ignore nonstandard names. To ensure compatibility, it is recommended to use XDG_CACHE_HOME and, if needed for legacy or custom scripts, to provide a fallback that maps XDGCACHEHOME to XDG_CACHE_HOME.

Best practices include keeping caches outside sensitive directories, acknowledging that cache contents can be deleted without affecting core functionality, and documenting any nonstandard variables used in a project.

See also: XDG Base Directory Specification, XDG_CACHE_HOME, XDG_CONFIG_HOME, XDG_DATA_HOME.