Curious Sunday Morning Linux File System Question ??

[Mike Burger]

> Hi All;
>
> 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?

This isn't specific to Linux.  There are lots of files in Unix land whose
filenames begin with ".".  In some cases, it's an application thing, in
other cases, it's kind of a standard thing.  It helps keep certain files
from being immediately visible, and/or might be something specific to a
particular developer's style/taste.

-- 
Mike Burger
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