Configuration/File

• Configuration File

  • Unix/Conventions

    • dotfiles conventions - ~/.<app>.conf

      • traditional behavior
        • Historically:
        • Config lived directly in $HOME
        • Files were prefixed with . to keep them hidden
        • Example:

          • ~/.tmux.conf
            ~/.vimrc
            ~/.gitconfig

      • The “dot hides files” behavior:
        • Originated in early Unix (1970s)
        • Was implemented in the ls CLI/Tool
        • Is now standard in all Unix-like systems:
          • Linux
          • MacOS (Darwin/BSD)
          • BSD
          • Solaris

    • XDG conventions - ~/.config/<app>/<app>.conf

      • XDG moved config files into dot/config (or the value of XDG/EnvVar/XDG_CONFIG_HOME

        • ~/.config/<application>/

      • Since:
      • The directory itself (.config) is already hidden
      • Each application gets its own subdirectory
      • In this case There’s no need to hide the filename itself.
      • So instead of:

        • ~/.tmux.conf

      • You get:

        • ~/.config/tmux/tmux.conf

    • Local/File or Local/Override files

      • The .local suffix is a long-standing Unix convention meaning:

        “Local customizations layered on top of upstream defaults.”
        

      • You’ll see similar patterns in:
        • /etc/foo.conf + /etc/foo.conf.local
        • /etc/profile + /etc/profile.local
        • /etc/apache2/apache2.conf + /etc/apache2/conf.d/*.conf
        • vim: vimrc + vimrc.local
      • zsh frameworks with *.local overrides
      • It’s a layering strategy, not a standard.