On Sun, 2007-03-11 at 11:13 -0400, William Case wrote: > Just did some changes in my ~/.* ( dot files ) and started wondering why > Linux uses dot files for its 'user' data. Its a small annoyance to have > to specify .* each time I use them. The annoyance is primarily not > because it's difficult but because it is odd -- different from anything > else and data files get mixed (kinda) with my working documents. Why > not just have a standard additional directory for 'config', or whatever > name, to hold all the user application type data. Is the reason > historical or is there a pragmatic purpose? That's an old complaint, and there has been some recommendation that setting directories and files ought to be in a sub-directory (e.g. .config/). It *is* a pain that my homespace is cluttered with a plethora of usually (but not always) hidden files, rather than one hidden starting point for all the things you don't usually need to mess with. Likewise, it's really a pain that some things spread their settings through out disparate parts, often in directories disassociated with the program name (evolution springs to mind on both those counts). -- (This box runs FC6, my others run FC4 & FC5, in case that's important to the thread.) Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. I read messages from the public lists.
