Linux

48153 readers

753 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
No misinformation
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, etc

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

[Request] Where to start with dot files? (infosec.pub)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

15 comments fedilink hide all child comments

New to Linux, running Debian (if that matters), dot files are configuration files, yes? Do I need to explore each app/UI/program to figure out the possible options? Are there any universals in Linux? Across distros?

Thanks!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You don't have to edit the config files, if that's what you mean. Generally speaking you should never need to edit any of them except in very unusual cases.

The config files are generally specific to apps and they can get transferred between distributions.

It's actually common practice to take your /home with you too a new distro, it to put it on a separate partition so it's still there after you reinstall the system partition. The app versions might be a little different and sometimes they're may be small glitches when you do that but for the most part it works very well.

The only dot dirs you might care about is .cache which you may want to empty every once in a while (if you run out of space on /home). There's also trash, if you use that, but that usually has its own widget on the desktop so you can explore or empty it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

Actually, there are many programs that are designed to be configured by editing the config files. It's not a "very unusual" case.