2005
Giving up control bit by bit (sub.wetshaving.social)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/memes@lemmy.world
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[–] 73 points 1 year ago (55 children)

I really do wish that more packages on Linux had installation paths clearly noted in a readme.

I've been using Linux daily for over a year now and I still have a hard time tracking down config files and install paths. Its just not one of those tasks I do regularly so I always forget best practices when trying to find stuff. The CLI always gives me the best results but getting the commands right can be tedious.

I've started saving useful commands in a note on my desktop.

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  • [–] 23 points 1 year ago (11 children)

    Which readme?

    The one on the github that has out of date instructions and tells you to check the discord?

    The 6 year out-of-date one on your distro's wiki?

    or The gnu-info/manpage that is only for the original upstream and doesn't tell you where all the files have been moved or that half of the software isn't actually installed since it was split out into extra packages for justdebianthings

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  • [–] 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (20 children)

    dpkg -L package-name

    Or the inverse

    dpkg -S /usr/bin/somefile

    For apt based distros, obviously.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (18 children)

    I just tried this with Samba (so dpkg -L samba and dpkg -S samba, and I also tried adding grep "smb.conf" and running it with sudo) and I was unable to find the share config file.

    It's located under /etc/samba/smb.conf but that command was returning a path under my local user. This is on Ubuntu

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (16 children)

    dpkg -S requires a full path like the example I gave. dpkg -L samba should work fine. What is the error you got?

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (15 children)

    No error or anything, but it just doesn't have the /etc/samba/smb.conf file. Just doesn't have it.

    dpkg -S samba does find /usr/share/samba/smb.conf which isn't the right file either.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    This is a good argument for shipping an empty config file.

    Your point stands, but this also isn't completely unintuitive. There is pattern there: you installed samba and the config is in /etc/samba/. System level installs will almost always install their config in /etc/ and the sub directory will typically match the name somewhat.

    There is likely a general thought that if you're going to administer a samba server, you'll also be comfortable with conventions and man pages. Although, funnily enough, in the particular case of samba, man smb.conf doesn't show the path lol

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    That's the thing though, when you install Samba it does create an empty config file at \etc\samba\smb.conf, or at least I've never created one

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago*

    I see why it does this now. Debian does

    CONFIG=/etc/samba/smb.conf
# stuff
ucf --three-way --debconf-ok /usr/share/samba/smb.conf "$CONFIG"

    in the postinit inside the .deb file to create the /etc/samba/smb.conf file. They do it this way so they don't nuke an already created file. I take back that they should be shipping an empty file, this way is better, but it also means you'll never be able to query it without some changes to the packaging tools.

    The man page should mention the path though that's a bit lame.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (11 children)

    You're confusing the command again

     -L, --listfiles package-name...
               List files installed to your system from package-name.
 -S, --search filename-search-pattern...
               Search for a filename from installed packages.

    dpkg -S /my/file/path

    Finds which, installed, package installed the file.

    dpkg -L samba | grep .conf

    Greps through the list of files installed by a given package.

    If the file you want isn't in there then it wasn't installed by the package itself (could be created on the fly by the binary for example), in which case obviously the package system can't track it.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (10 children)

    Oh I see, this command didn't really do what I wanted it to do then. I just wanted to be able to see the locations of any files associated with a program. If I knew the file path I could just find them haha

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago* (9 children)

    dpkg -L PACKAGE_NAME does what you want. In my initial reply I mentioned that dpkg -S is the inverse.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (8 children)

    Here is the entire output I get when I get that command.

    username@server:~$ dpkg -L samba /usr/share/doc/samba/examples /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/LDAP /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/LDAP/README /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/LDAP/get_next_oid /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/LDAP/ol-schema-migrate.pl /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/LDAP/samba-nds.schema /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/LDAP/samba-schema-FDS.ldif /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/LDAP/samba-schema-netscapeds5.x.README /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/LDAP/samba-schema.IBMSecureWay /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/LDAP/samba.ldif /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/LDAP/samba.schema /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/LDAP/samba.schema.at.IBM-DS /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/LDAP/samba.schema.oc.IBM-DS /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/logon /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/logon/genlogon /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/logon/genlogon/genlogon.pl /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/logon/mklogon /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/logon/mklogon/mklogon.conf /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/logon/mklogon/mklogon.pl /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/logon/ntlogon /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/logon/ntlogon/README /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/logon/ntlogon/ntlogon.conf /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/logon/ntlogon/ntlogon.py /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/printing /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/printing/VampireDriversFunctions /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/printing/prtpub.c /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/printing/readme.prtpub /usr/share/doc/samba/examples/printing/smbprint.sysv /usr/share/lintian /usr/share/lintian/overrides /usr/share/lintian/overrides/samba /usr/share/man /usr/share/man/man1 /usr/share/man/man1/log2pcap.1.gz /usr/share/man/man1/mvxattr.1.gz /usr/share/man/man1/oLschema2ldif.1.gz /usr/share/man/man1/profiles.1.gz /usr/share/man/man1/sharesec.1.gz /usr/share/man/man1/smbcontrol.1.gz /usr/share/man/man1/smbstatus.1.gz /usr/share/man/man8 /usr/share/man/man8/eventlogadm.8.gz /usr/share/man/man8/nmbd.8.gz /usr/share/man/man8/pdbedit.8.gz /usr/share/man/man8/samba-bgqd.8.gz /usr/share/man/man8/samba-gpupdate.8.gz /usr/share/man/man8/samba.8.gz /usr/share/man/man8/samba_downgrade_db.8.gz /usr/share/man/man8/smbd.8.gz /usr/share/samba /usr/share/samba/admx /usr/share/samba/admx/GNOME_Settings.admx /usr/share/samba/admx/en-US /usr/share/samba/admx/en-US/GNOME_Settings.adml /usr/share/samba/admx/en-US/samba.adml /usr/share/samba/admx/ru-RU /usr/share/samba/admx/ru-RU/GNOME_Settings.adml /usr/share/samba/admx/samba.admx /usr/share/samba/mdssvc /usr/share/samba/mdssvc/elasticsearch_mappings.json /usr/share/samba/update-apparmor-samba-profile /var /var/lib /var/lib/samba /var/lib/samba/printers /var/lib/samba/printers/COLOR /var/lib/samba/printers/IA64 /var/lib/samba/printers/W32ALPHA /var/lib/samba/printers/W32MIPS /var/lib/samba/printers/W32PPC /var/lib/samba/printers/W32X86 /var/lib/samba/printers/WIN40 /var/lib/samba/printers/x64 /usr/share/bug/samba/presubj /usr/share/bug/samba/script

    Now, if I grep those commands, I get these outputs

    username@server:~$ dpkg -S samba | grep "smb.conf" samba-common: /usr/share/samba/smb.conf samba-common: /usr/share/doc/samba-common/examples/smb.conf.default python3-samba: /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/samba/gp/gp_smb_conf_ext.py

    username@server:~$ dpkg -L samba | grep "smb.conf" username@server:~$

    And these are copy and pasted straight from my terminal.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago* (7 children)

    Like I said, it obviously can only track files installed by the package, if the conf was generated by the executable after, or if you created it, the package system cannot know about it.

    Also, you're still using -S wrong. It takes a file path as argument, not a package name. And does the opposite of -L by showing you which installed package, if any, owns an existing file.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (6 children)

    And like I said

    this command didn't really do what I wanted it to do then

    I just want to do something like find {package name} | grep "config.conf" or something like that. I normally know what the program is called, I just don't know where it is located.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    This does not return all "config files and install paths" as it only ever considers files that came in the package, not files created by the package (such as /etc/samba.smb.conf, which is created during installation), so doesn't actually solve the problem.

    That limitation should've been made clear in the advice itself so as not to send users that don't know better down dead ends, though the subsequent discussion between this and the previous user is a great illustration of how the way some give Linux "advice" just ends up frustrating those seeking advice.

    (It even eventually frustrated me because over the years I've had to teach plenty of junior developers to not give advice like that, only they're seldom so bad that they insist they actually know what the other person wants even in the face of a user providing proof that they do not)

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  • [–] 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (11 children)

    People can say what they want about Windows, having stuff installed in a folder called Program Files with sub folders using the brand/program name is so much simpler than whatever the fuck is going on on Linux.

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  • [–] 30 points 1 year ago (8 children)

    Until an app decides to install in the hidden AppData folder with the confusing sub-folder names, or even the root of the user folder, or god forbid in a folder in the root of the C drive

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  • [–] 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Local, LocalLow, Roaming really are confusing names ngl, but %AppData% isn't really hidden.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    It's funny because it seems like it's all just familiarity with conventions on both platforms. I've used Linux for around 15 years and I'm completely lost trying to find anything on a Windows computer.

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  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Also the two Program Files folders that have existed since the switch to 64-bit systems.

    And third-party software installers that install stuff into their own secret places. Like Steam games.

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago*

    And don’t forget that syswow64 is where 32-bit os programs are, system32 is where the 64-bit programs are… and I guess system is still for 16-bit OS programs, if there still are any.

    (Edit: just checked, it seems to have only xsd documents for windows speech synthesis.)

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I don't remember seeing something get installed in appdata, but having other files it depends on in there sure does happen though

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I've seen Electron based apps do this sometimes. GitHub Desktop, for instance

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Oh right, it's the only one I've seen doing it. You still get the prompt to ask where you want to install it and it just needs to not be in Program Files or you need to give it administrator access so it can update itself...

    It's pretty ridiculous

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    For user specific files a lot of modern programs try to adhere to https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/latest/. You should set those environmental variables and check there first.

    For system level.. it's definitely more complicated. I check /etc first and then then /usr dirs. If you're using your system package manager there is generally a way to query it for that information, but it's typically CLI based.

    Or just use our lord and savior NixOS and configure everything in a single directory

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