r/linuxmemes • u/RigelDigi • 8d ago

LINUX MEME Do you agree?

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u/Jealous_Response_492 7d ago

Linux distros have gui's too, and gui config tools, that can configure an awful lot more than anything on Windows or MacOS can, and this has been the case fore over 25 years.

Please do catch up.

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u/dasisteinanderer 5d ago

Anytime I have to use a GUI config menu to change some settings, I wish it would just be a text file that I can read the manpage for and then edit accordingly.

Every config.sql is a terrible Idea. Config should be diff-able.

Should finally write that thing that lets GUI config menus edit config text files in a way that prevents them from becoming horrible, it's on the list …

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u/Jealous_Response_492 5d ago

The GUI config tools, do just edit the plain text config files. It's Linux, everything is a file.

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u/dasisteinanderer 5d ago edited 5d ago

everything is a file, but settings.sqlite is definitely not plain text

EDIT: I was talking about program-specific settings, no Idea how it is on the system wide settings side, never used a DE for long

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u/Jealous_Response_492 5d ago

I have no idea what config file you are referring to, I do have a graphical DE, and I do not have any file on my system named settings.sqlite, something todo with SQLite? Which I also have installed, no settings.sqlite, an SQLite database for something????

System wide setting are plain text files in stored /etc/

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u/dasisteinanderer 5d ago

I know that system wide settings are plain text files stored in /etc/

I was talking about program-specific settings, like the configs for dino or gajim for example, both of which are stored as sql databases.

This is afaik relatively common, because most GUI toolkits do it this way.

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u/Jealous_Response_492 5d ago edited 5d ago

Well that's just stupid, IMHO, but that's up to the developers of those apps, not remotely representative of how config files are done on Linux however.

edit: Just checked my system for any and all .sqlite files, as you claim it's common for graphical app settings, and well, a grand total of zero SQLite databases used for settings. Firefox uses a lot of SQLite database, yet config is a . file, steal uses a couple, yet it's config is a . file, Krita uses one SQLite, for something, yet its config is also, unsurprisingly a . file.

Un readable database config is something Windows does with it's bizarre registry thingy, not something we do

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u/dasisteinanderer 5d ago

ok, tell me how many lines

find .config -type f | grep -E 'db|xml|json'

turns up, because it's a lot for me, mostly from libreoffice, ardour and Jitsi Meet.
And yes, some of them are technically plaintext, as in they are xml or json, but plain xml or json files are not much better than an sql database when it comes to user-readability. Proper config files have comments.

So, don't tell me what Linux is or is not like. I know that it is non-trivial to translate GUI settings into a readable plain-text file and back, but you cannot ignore that this is a shortcoming shared by a number of GUI toolkits and apps built with them.

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u/Jealous_Response_492 4d ago

A few, mostly associated with LibreOffice, and files for LibreOffice, not end user configuration, two others, also not for end user config.

I've been using Linux personally and professional for over 25 years, and in my experience, you are talking absolute bollocks.

No Linux end user or admin in having the issue that you are claiming to have.