https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/dotfiles-what-is-a-dot-file-and-how-to-create-it-in-mac-and-linux/

"Many computer software programs store their configuration settings in
plain, text-based files or directories.

Dotfiles are configuration files for various programs, and they help
those programs manage their functionality.

What sets them apart from regular files and directories is their prefix.

Dotfiles are named that way because each file and directory starts with
a dot (.)"

But then why don't files like composer.json, Dockerfile,
phpdoc.dist.xml, phpunit.xml.dist, etc, do not follow this convention?
Because they don't start with a dot (.composer.json, .Dockerfile, etc)?

On Fri, 01 Apr 2022 15:14:00 +0200, alex wrote:

> https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/dotfiles-what-is-a-dot-file-and-how-to-create-it-in-mac-and-linux/
>
> "Many computer software programs store their configuration settings in
> plain, text-based files or directories.
>
> Dotfiles are configuration files for various programs, and they help
> those programs manage their functionality.
>
> What sets them apart from regular files and directories is their prefix.
>
> Dotfiles are named that way because each file and directory starts with
> a dot (.)"
>
> But then why don't files like composer.json, Dockerfile,
> phpdoc.dist.xml, phpunit.xml.dist, etc, do not follow this convention?
> Because they don't start with a dot (.composer.json, .Dockerfile, etc)?

What that article neglects to mention (or, at least, neglects to stress)
system-wide configuration files /are not/ stored as dotfiles, or as files
under a dot-directory, but are, instead, stored as regularly-named files
(in regularly-named directories) under a system-owned directory.

The convention is that only /personal, per-user/ configuration files
are stored as dotfiles, or files under a dot-directory in the user's home
directory.

HTH
--
Lew Pitcher
"In Skills, We Trust"

On 01/04/2022 15.14, alex wrote:
> https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/dotfiles-what-is-a-dot-file-and-how-to-create-it-in-mac-and-linux/
>
>
> "Many computer software programs store their configuration settings in
> plain, text-based files or directories.
>
> Dotfiles are configuration files for various programs, and they help
> those programs manage their functionality.
>
> What sets them apart from regular files and directories is their prefix.
>
> Dotfiles are named that way because each file and directory starts with
> a dot (.)"
>
> But then why don't files like composer.json, Dockerfile,
> phpdoc.dist.xml, phpunit.xml.dist, etc, do not follow this convention?
> Because they don't start with a dot (.composer.json, .Dockerfile, etc)?

Files starting on a full stop/dot are by default "hidden" files when it
comes to unix and unix like operating systems.

When you run "ls ~/" you will not see your configuration files, but if
you want to see them you can run "ls -a ~/". The configuration files are
hidden so that you won't have a lot of difficulties to find those files
that ain't your configurations files. These configuration files are the
ones you want to always use each time you run the application they
belongs to.

You use a hidden config when you kind of only once configure the
application and want to use the same config every time.

You use a visible config when you need to use different configurations
every time you run the application.

--

//Aho

Il 01/04/22 16:06, J.O. Aho ha scritto:
> The configuration files are hidden so that you won't have a lot of
> difficulties to find those files that ain't your configurations files.

????

On Fri, 01 Apr 2022 17:19:30 +0200, alex wrote:

> Il 01/04/22 16:06, J.O. Aho ha scritto:
>> The configuration files are hidden so that you won't have a lot of
>> difficulties to find those files that ain't your configurations files.
>
> ????

In my home directory
11:33 $ pwd
/home/lpitcher

I have 66 of my own files and directories
11:33 $ ls -d ./* | wc -l
66

and 166 dotfiles and dot-directories
11:33 $ ls -d ./.* | wc -l
166

or roughly 2 1/2 times more dotfiles/directories than
personal files/directories. That's a lot of configuration
files that I normally wouldn't care about, and would
confuse a directory listing, should I be looking for one
of my files.

--
Lew Pitcher
"In Skills, We Trust"

Il 01/04/22 16:06, J.O. Aho ha scritto:
>
> You use a visible config when you need to use different configurations
> every time you run the application.

Mmmmmmmhhhhhhhhhhh

https://laravel-italia.it/articoli/test-test-test-configurare-travis-ci-per-un-progetto-laravel/
"Dovremo aggiungere, al nostro progetto, un file .travis.yml, che
conterrà queste istruzioni in formato Yaml."

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17049416/what-is-the-idea-folder/62564447#62564447

On 01/04/2022 17.19, alex wrote:
> Il 01/04/22 16:06, J.O. Aho ha scritto:
>> The configuration files are hidden so that you won't have a lot of
>> difficulties to find those files that ain't your configurations files.
>
> ????

Say you have 1000 configuration files in your ~/ and then 5 normal
files, if you see 1005 files, it's more difficult to find the 5 normal
files among all the files.

--

//Aho

Il 02/04/22 10:41, J.O. Aho ha scritto:
>
> Say you have 1000 configuration files in your ~/ and then 5 normal
> files, if you see 1005 files, it's more difficult to find the 5 normal
> files among all the files.

OK ;)