Placement of config files for Plasma 5 and KF5-based applications

[Thomas Pfeiffer]

Hi everyone,
first of all, I think it's a great step in the right direction that we're now 
putting our config files in ~/.config instead of ~/.kde(4), we're now finally 
"standard-compliant".

However, where we still could - and imho should - do better is with where 
exactly we put them. If I look at my .config folder, I see mostly folders 
there, and then a lot of KDE files directly on the top level. If everyone 
would do that, .config would be a huge mess of files and it would be difficult 
to find the one you're looking for.
We should not be the "bad boy" here.

The question is: Where should we put the files? Putting them all in a 
.config/kde folder again would be possible and would clear up the top-level 
clutter, but I think we could go further.
In fact, I don't see a reason why config files from otherwise completely 
unrelated applications that only have in common that they were made by KDE  
should all reside in the same folder, whereas other applications each have 
their own folder.

What could make sense is having e.g. everything from Calligra in one folder, 
or everything from KDE Edu or KDE Games.
And I'd put all Plasma stuff into one folder. Actually, there already is a 
plasma-workspace folder on my system, which contains an "env" and a "shutdown" 
folder. Why not put Plasma-related config files in there?

I also have a "KDE" folder with Marble Virtual Globe.conf and Sonnet.conf in 
there, and a kde.org folder with libphonon.conf and marble.conf. This doesn't 
make us look very professional, as it shows that there is currently no 
guideline for where to put our config files.
I think we should change that!

So, for me there are three questions:
1. Should we come up with guidelines for config file placement?
2. Does my suggestion above make sense or if now how should it be done 
instead?
3. If we want guidelines, how do we make them known and maybe even "enforce" 
them via code checking or some such?

Looking forward to a fruitful discussion,
Thomas