Curious Sunday Morning Linux File System Question ??

[Les]

On Sun, 2007-03-11 at 11:17 -0400, Mike Burger wrote:
> > 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
> http://www.bubbanfriends.org
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> 
Actually, every operating system I have worked on (9 at last count) has
something similar.  The only standard known directory for applications
is the users home directory.  Thus the "accepted practice" is to put
user specific data in a hidden directory dedicated to the application in
the users root directory.  Thus each user can customize the application,
and it doesn't affect the other users.  Microsoft has butchered it
somewhat by moving much of the initialization data for all applications
into their registry (and other developers who are not multiuser savy
also do this too much).  But generically, having each applications data
separate is a good thing, because it helps isolate the sources of
problems, isolate file damage to a specific application (something the
registry is notorious for breaking), and helps in troubleshooting user
problems.

I hope this aids you somewhat.

Regards,
Les H