Ubuntu
xdg-user-dirs package

  1. Bug #204567
  2. Comment #19

Comment 19 for bug 204567

Revision history for this message
Andrew (and471) wrote : Re: downloads should go to $HOME/Downloads : XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR should be set to "$HOME/Downloads"

I believe setting ~/Downloads as the Downloads directory is the best option. Desktop is for shortcuts/important files. It just gets cluttered (the opposite of what the default Ubuntu install does).

Attached is a debdiff to make this change