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I have never had to edit anything in .config in decades of using Linux. Dotfiles are hidden for a reason, you shouldn't have to edit them by hand very often, an

I have never had to edit anything in .config in decades of using Linux. Dotfiles are hidden for a reason, you shouldn't have to edit them by hand very often, and most heavy applications (e.g. Chrome) have their own configuration interface that will edit them for you. I think the . is a fine convention for easily separating configuration space from work/project data space.

kevinmgranger 11y ago
I think it's worth noting that the reason dotfiles are hidden was originally a bug: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+RobPikeTheHuman/posts/R58WgWwN9jp https://plus.google.com/u/0/+RobPikeTheHuman/posts/R58WgWwN9...
- vram22 11y ago
  Yes, saw that a while ago, interesting. Getting to know the reason after years of using Unix, because the info only came out recently (AFAIK) ...
- adrusi 11y ago
  That's not the reason why "dotfiles" are hidden, that's the reason that files whose names begin with dots are hidden. "Dotfile" refers specifically to user-local configuration files, which almost always have filenames that begin with a dot, or are located within a directory whose name begins with a dot. Dotfiles are hidden because some people decided that configuration files ought to be hidden from the user during normal activities and so they took advantage of the originally-a-bug-feature of hidden files. This became the standard practice because at the time there was no agreed-upon location for user-local configuration (as existed for system-level config in the form of /etc), so the most logical thing to do was to just put config files inside $HOME. This clutters up the home directory, and so hiding these configuration files made sense.
loudmax 11y ago
Hidden from whom? Regular users? Very few regular people are using Linux or any variant of Unix other than OS X on a desktop. Those of us who install Linux are the kinds of people who are most likely to mess with deep system settings anyway. Even my kids go into their .minecraft directory to install mods.
- reptation 11y ago
  dot files do not show up in ls command unless you add -a flag.
  - DrScump 11y ago
    ... or you explicitly type the leading dot in the filename or wildcard criteria.
- zanny 11y ago
  In defense of your kids, Minecraft hides the mod folder on every OS behind a hidden directory. Its actually easier to get to (albeit violating file system standards) to have it in ~/.minecraft vs on Windows you needing to figure out where your AppData folder even is (it varies on release) and then unhide it or browse directly to it.
  - Nadya 11y ago
    >on Windows you needing to figure out where your AppData folder even is (it varies on release) I believe "%appdata%" is symlinked to the AppData folder on every version of Windows Minecraft runs on.
    - zanny 11y ago
      Which is the point - you are now starting to try to make kids understand what symbolic links are or even how to input those in Windows Explorer. Just saying "open file manager, hit f8, go to .minecraft" is actually a usability improvement for kids.
      - Nadya 11y ago
        Every minecraft guide explicitly says to open file manager and navigate to "%appdata%" often with pictures of where to even input "%appdata%". I knew what symlinks were but never knew Windows had them. I only learned about %appdata% from a youtube video made by a 11-13 year old kid about how to install a mod for Minecraft. They don't need to know what a symlink is or where their .appdata folder is to know how to navigate to "%appdata%". The young ones are a bit more tech savvy than adults are giving them credit for. Are they pandered a bit without having to know as much about the internals and how things work? Sure. But they're able to navigate and follow instructions because they've literally been doing it their entire lives. Many laptops don't have a dedicated function row ("F\d" not FN) keys. So "F8" might serve to confuse some people who have had the privilege of only ever owning a laptop (I know a few of these teens myself!)

kevinmgranger 11y ago

I think it's worth noting that the reason dotfiles are hidden was originally a bug: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+RobPikeTheHuman/posts/R58WgWwN9jp https://plus.google.com/u/0/+RobPikeTheHuman/posts/R58WgWwN9...

vram22 11y ago
Yes, saw that a while ago, interesting. Getting to know the reason after years of using Unix, because the info only came out recently (AFAIK) ...
adrusi 11y ago
That's not the reason why "dotfiles" are hidden, that's the reason that files whose names begin with dots are hidden. "Dotfile" refers specifically to user-local configuration files, which almost always have filenames that begin with a dot, or are located within a directory whose name begins with a dot. Dotfiles are hidden because some people decided that configuration files ought to be hidden from the user during normal activities and so they took advantage of the originally-a-bug-feature of hidden files. This became the standard practice because at the time there was no agreed-upon location for user-local configuration (as existed for system-level config in the form of /etc), so the most logical thing to do was to just put config files inside $HOME. This clutters up the home directory, and so hiding these configuration files made sense.

loudmax 11y ago

Hidden from whom? Regular users? Very few regular people are using Linux or any variant of Unix other than OS X on a desktop. Those of us who install Linux are the kinds of people who are most likely to mess with deep system settings anyway. Even my kids go into their .minecraft directory to install mods.

reptation 11y ago
dot files do not show up in ls command unless you add -a flag.
- DrScump 11y ago
  ... or you explicitly type the leading dot in the filename or wildcard criteria.
zanny 11y ago
In defense of your kids, Minecraft hides the mod folder on every OS behind a hidden directory. Its actually easier to get to (albeit violating file system standards) to have it in ~/.minecraft vs on Windows you needing to figure out where your AppData folder even is (it varies on release) and then unhide it or browse directly to it.
- Nadya 11y ago
  >on Windows you needing to figure out where your AppData folder even is (it varies on release) I believe "%appdata%" is symlinked to the AppData folder on every version of Windows Minecraft runs on.
  - zanny 11y ago
    Which is the point - you are now starting to try to make kids understand what symbolic links are or even how to input those in Windows Explorer. Just saying "open file manager, hit f8, go to .minecraft" is actually a usability improvement for kids.
    - Nadya 11y ago
      Every minecraft guide explicitly says to open file manager and navigate to "%appdata%" often with pictures of where to even input "%appdata%". I knew what symlinks were but never knew Windows had them. I only learned about %appdata% from a youtube video made by a 11-13 year old kid about how to install a mod for Minecraft. They don't need to know what a symlink is or where their .appdata folder is to know how to navigate to "%appdata%". The young ones are a bit more tech savvy than adults are giving them credit for. Are they pandered a bit without having to know as much about the internals and how things work? Sure. But they're able to navigate and follow instructions because they've literally been doing it their entire lives. Many laptops don't have a dedicated function row ("F\d" not FN) keys. So "F8" might serve to confuse some people who have had the privilege of only ever owning a laptop (I know a few of these teens myself!)