config files on linux

[t.s.]

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...

[curaga]

Actually, many apps/libs do place their configs in ~/.config/appname/. Gtk2, Qt4, mumble, psi, epdfview for example.

Guess it's a matter of the programmer's preference.

[t.s.]

But still,
there's bunch of program that still drop their config file on /home/[username]
and I think that config file placement is ruled by the distro, not the programmer, no?

[deanjo]

But still,
there's bunch of program that still drop their config file on /home/[username]
and I think that config file placement is ruled by the distro, not the programmer, no?

Well I think it should actually be made of the official FSH instead of the distro but ya all those .config folders and files are messy. That is one area where I really love OS X for and it's neat organization of it's .plists.

[duby229]

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...

My biggest complaint is that syntax is different for most config files... I really believe that someone should standardize config file systax. Though I have to admit that may not happen until some sort of central config management thingamajig is developed..... And that doesnt sound too good to me so for now I'm happy with the way it is..

[energyman]

But still,
there's bunch of program that still drop their config file on /home/[username]
and I think that config file placement is ruled by the distro, not the programmer, no?

no. It is 'ruled' by the author's of the app. Go complain to them.

[yotambien]

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...

Ah, I thought I was the only one with this problem. Mainly it's only annoying for the 'save' dialogs, where you have to scroll down to find your visible folders, but still an annoyance you have to face everyday. A hidden directory inside ~/ would be perfect. I guess it would be down to the distributions to sort this out...

[energyman]

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

[Ant P.]

In 99% of those dialogue boxes right clicking the file list gives an option to hide the dotfiles.

[t.s.]

@deanjo & @yotambien
Yup.. Somebody here think to bring this up this topic to some distro? Hm.. I think I will; To Debian and/or Canonical first .

@dubby229
I think it's not that problematic. Well, something like grub2 cfg and fonts.conf and, say, vimrc conf doesn't or mustn't have same configuration syntax. They are kind of serve their purpose that way for now. From some that super complicated, medium, to easy--aka just work-- config files.

@energyman
Yes, bro..
You know that, I know, and others know too. GNOME and others WM have an option to turn off the 'show hidden files' option, too. But, some apps just don't behave like that.
And then again, it's not the point. Say, it's like you just drop all your files on your hdd or flash disk without categorizing it. And that will became a mess one day, when you have too much files and directories.

But still,
there's bunch of program that still drop their config file on /home/[username]
and I think that config file placement is ruled by the distro, not the programmer, no?

no. It is 'ruled' by the author's of the app. Go complain to them.

Anybody can confirm this?
I still think that a distro ruling the placement of the apps config files.

Edit: Yep, I get it, energyman. I think you're right.
Then the question is not how to bring it to some distro then, but to linux apps programmer, all of them.
sigh..