It seems like the roadblock is that most cli tools don't want to think too hard about XDG in the slightest, and they delegate to standard directory libraries.

It seems like the roadblock is that most cli tools don't want to think too hard about XDG in the slightest, and they delegate to standard directory libraries. Those libraries aren't normally in the business of creating symlinks, and if previous discussions are any indications, convincing them to add XDG support at all - let alone by default - seems on the same level as pleading Vim/Emacs users to just try Emacs/Vim