config files on linux

[Micket]

That spec breaks POLA. While it defines where config/history files should be stored by default it does NOT provide a way to revert to old behavior. Some users (e.g. me) really hate when app-related data is scattered across several dirs (~/.config, ~/.local/, ~/.cache) in $HOME. And you can NOT set prefix using $XDG_* environment variables, so there is no way to set
~/.config/midori -> ~/.midori
~/.config/comix -> ~/.comix
~/.config/transmission -> ~/.transmission (it's possible only using `-g' or $TRANSMISSION_HOME)

I'm grateful that most apps that I use don't follow such ridiculous assumption that users are too stupid to turn off displaying dot-files by default.

And i really hate it when they group them together, and obviously several other people. We are splitting system wide data the same way, /usr/share/, /var/cache/, /etc/.

You cannot revert more than a handful of software towards -> XDG_*/appname/ (as transmission, under the awkward condition to run it with a certain flag), if this was what you wanted.
.config is a sensible default.

About hiding dot-files as a cure-all only works under the stupid assumption you will never have to access these files yourself. It's when we do need to access them every now and then that we are greeted with a most unpleasant directory listing, which we now need to scroll through to find our folder.
And a whole bunch of these I don't even know what they are for; aiconsF, aiconfsI, swp, xmsbrowser, netx, mcop, rnd? The last proved to be a temporary binary file generated by vim which i found out by checking the file itself. So now vim has, swp, viminfz.tmp, vimrc, vim, viminfo, 1 folder with settings, 2 config files, and 2 temporary files. So what is this old default your are talking about? ~/.appname/ ? Well vim surely thinks dumping it's files right into ~/ is a sensible default. Gnome got two folders, gtk got 3 files.
The current default is "do whatever you want with your files", but luckily, most software seems to be have reverted to a basic folder setup.

I like folders. And I use them to structure my material. I see no reason not to structure these config files. Otherwise we could just as well dump all files straight into home. How practical! All the files right there, at your convenience!

There are users and developers who like this idea and no one is forcing this upon software more than any other feature request. If a lot more software starts using this then i guess you'll only have to endure the suffering of having to type .c*tab* before accessing your config files.

[t.s.]

no, just let it be. There aren't that many config files/directories. Adding another one won't reduce the amount in any real way. And since these are hidden files - who cares anyway?

Well, it seems to me that people 'here' care about it. And, adding another one, well, yes, won't reduce the amount in any real way. But when you adding FIFTY OF THEM, then it won't not have the effect. And yes, I DO care about them.

If you read the basedir spec that i linked you will see that it defaults to ~/.config if XDG_CONFIG_HOME is not set. The whole point of that is it's not hardcoded into the software. It also seperates junk (temp files, and less worthy data) from what would typically end up in ~/.somesoftware/

I'd bet that you already have a ~/.config which does contain some configs, and all those programs are most likely conforming to the basedir spec.
Some of the software i frequently use that conforms to the standard:
Awesome WM, XMMS2, GTK, QT, Anjuta, Brasero, Paraview, Thunar, Transmission, Comix, Texmaker

I dont know what you mean only for "freedesktop related apps", but it doesn't mean anything. Anyone can use it. Any software that is already using .config is most likely using it.

The basedir spec IS what you have been asking for. Suggestion that some software should use a fixed ~/.config has absolutely no advantage.

My bad. I didn't read it full back then. Yes, I think that's what I want. But... Is it not more simple if we just drop all the config in, say, $HOME/.config/somesoftware/ ? like:

$HOME/.config/somesoftware/all-their-files (confs, history, cache, etc)

Well, I vote for either XDG Base Directory (which is well-though and more systematical) or like above ex. (which more handy/simple, though not that systematical).

About hiding dot-files as a cure-all only works under the stupid assumption you will never have to access these files yourself. It's when we do need to access them every now and then that we are greeted with a most unpleasant directory listing, which we now need to scroll through to find our folder.
And a whole bunch of these I don't even know what they are for; aiconsF, aiconfsI, swp, xmsbrowser, netx, mcop, rnd? The last proved to be a temporary binary file generated by vim which i found out by checking the file itself. So now vim has, swp, viminfz.tmp, vimrc, vim, viminfo, 1 folder with settings, 2 config files, and 2 temporary files. So what is this old default your are talking about? ~/.appname/ ? Well vim surely thinks dumping it's files right into ~/ is a sensible default. Gnome got two folders, gtk got 3 files.
The current default is "do whatever you want with your files", but luckily, most software seems to be have reverted to a basic folder setup.

Yep. Agree. But, not 'most software'. Its a few of them.

[misiu_mp]

hm, konqueror does not show the . files by default. So maybe you shopuld stop using crap?

Yeah! Nautilus doesnt show that shit either by default, so do stop using crap!

[misiu_mp]

ok, I was wrong. Does not change the fact that .config won't reduce the amount of config files in ~/ by a loarge enough quantity to create just another hidden directoy.

If by adding one dir you get rid of two others (dirs or files), then it is worth it. Eventually, hopefully developers will learn and put their shit in .config.

[sharonk868]

does anyone knows that WHY our user configs file reside on /home/[user]/ ??
WHY there's not in a 'sane' place like /home/[user]/.configs ??

everytime I type 'ls -al' on terminal, I told to myself, "damn, what a mess.."

.. and why there's none that think that way [the way I think]? I love an orderly things. Neat things (You do, yes?). Not something like the way linux placing their config files.

sigh...

Hi !
I've just visited this forum. Happy to get acquainted with you. Thanks.

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