[enhancement]: Allow for alternative location for wsl datasource

[Nova38]

Enhancement

Currently the wsl datasource requires the creation of a folder in the users home. This proposal would allow for the datasource to also check a folder in a the .config subfolder, if it exists, aligning it with the general best practices of the (XDG base Directory standard)[
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/XDG_Base_Directory]. This is particularly useful on Windows as unlike on linux folders that start with a . are not auto hidden.

For example from the docs:
C:\Users\me\.cloud-init\Ubuntu-24.04.user-data
Would also check

C:\Users\me\.config\.cloud-init\Ubuntu-24.04.user-data

[Nova38]

It would modification of the cloud_init_data_dir to something like the following

cloud-init/cloudinit/sources/DataSourceWSL.py

Lines 116 to 127 in 7132625

	def cloud_init_data_dir(user_home: PurePath) -> Optional[PurePath]:
	"""
	Returns the Windows user profile .cloud-init directory translated as a
	Linux path accessible inside the current WSL instance, or None if not
	found.
	"""
	seed_dir = os.path.join(user_home, ".cloud-init")
	if not os.path.isdir(seed_dir):
	LOG.debug("cloud-init user data dir %s doesn't exist.", seed_dir)
	return None
	return PurePath(seed_dir)

def cloud_init_data_dir(user_home: PurePath) -> Optional[PurePath]: 
     """ 
     Returns the Windows user profile .cloud-init directory translated as a 
     Linux path accessible inside the current WSL instance, or None if not 
     found. If .cloud-init folder is not present then it will attempt to
     fallback to the users .config dolder
     """ 
     seed_dir = os.path.join(user_home, ".cloud-init") 
     if os.path.isdir(seed_dir): 
        return PurePath(seed_dir) 
      
     # Fallback to .config folder
     seed_dir = os.path.join(user_home,".config" , ".cloud-init") 
     if os.path.isdir(seed_dir): 
        return PurePath(seed_dir) 
     
     LOG.debug("cloud-init user data dir %s doesn't exist.", seed_dir) 
     return None 

[holmanb]

This proposal would allow for the datasource to also check a folder in a the .config subfolder, if it exists, aligning it with the general best practices of the XDG base Directory standard

Is this standard already applied to Windows anywhere or is there a plan for it to in the future?

This proposal would allow for the datasource to also check a folder in a the .config subfolder, if it exists, aligning it with the general best practices of the

I would prefer not to have two identical ways of doing the same thing. This would introduce unwanted complexity: require priority ordering (and testing if this, documentation, etc), more complicated error handling, and would lead to user confusion in situations when both exist.

This is particularly useful on Windows as unlike on linux folders that start with a . are not auto hidden.

This is a not-hidden directory in C:\Users\me\.cloud-init vs a not-hidden directory in C:\Users\me\.config\. How is this more useful?

FYI @CarlosNihelton

[CarlosNihelton]

Hi! Thanks for the suggestion!

We considered that alternative in the past when conceiving this datasource, and didn't find enough benefits in doing so. The current location is slightly easier to find, especially useful when you want to delete contents. Changing that now would result in a breaking change, so we're not in favour of that proposal.