F8devel - user configuration storage locations

[Sean Stangl]

On Wed, 2007-06-13 at 18:46 -0500, Arthur Pemberton wrote:
> I'm sorry if Gnome's dialog shows you everything by default, but some
> of us use KDE, and it doesn't do that, so that's a non-issue

Nautilus does not show hidden files by default. Unknowledgeable users
are therefore not bothered by the existence of hidden files and folders,
as the files' existence is never made known unless explicitly requested.

There is nothing gained by following the OP's suggestion and patching
all packages to use a different configuration root. We would wind up:

1) wasting a tremendous amount of time patching every package,
2) breaking compatibility with other Linux distributions, thereby
increasing the amount of support we'd have to provide to migrating
users,
3) making the presence of hidden configuration files shown by default,
which actually ends up...
4) creating even more clutter than we have now.

If it ain't broke, don't go fixin' it. Our time can be better spent.

-Sean