This is major league bullshit tho.
On linux, where the config file for a specific program is, can vary annoyingly greatly depending on what distro you're using and sometimes the same config file exists in several places and somehow certain parts of the configuration parameters get taken from several of those files, so if you think you've found what the actual config file should be and remove the duplicates, suddenly the program uses defaults or doesn't even work at all.
Yup. Is it in /usr /var /etc or /opt? Maybe in some hidden home folder? Sure, you can Google it, but there's no guarantee you'll find the right answer.
There are only a handful of places Windows sticks stuff, and it's pretty predictable.
You should never be expected to edit anything in /usr, /opt or /var. That's highly unusual. For which software did you have to do this?
Generally /usr should be managed by the package manager, /etc is for global custom configs and the user home is user specific.
/var shouldn't really be config, mostly logs or webservers for some reason.
XDG Base Directory & XDG User Directories will help you immensely. At least, for the programs that follow the XDG specs. Also, check out XDG Ninja.
This is the "appdata" folder, this is where all the application's data goes.
So whats the "Programs" folder then?
This is also where the application's data and files go.
But I thought thats the "Programs x86" folder.
This is also where the application's data and files go.
Ok whats "Program Files" then?
This is also where the application's data and files go.
So my config file is in either one if those 4?
No thats in the "Documents" folder, obviously.
Windows program data file structure has always been the wild west.
Don’t forget about the hidden ProgramData directory at the root of the file system. Ableton Live likes to install there for some ungodly reason.
Selects separate drive for install
Adobe: "Imma, pretend I didn't see that"
Always remember, C:\ProgramData is the eqivalent of /etc in Linux. If they don't know where to put/hide shit, but needs admin priviliges to edit and users can only read, you put it in C:\ProgramData.
I think programdata is closer to /usr/lib or maybe /var/lib.
You almost never see config files in programdata.
Don't forget %USERPROFILE%/AppData/Local/Programs, where some programs get installed to because the developer doesn't want to make it a system wide installation.
Yeah, the Documents config file/dir pisses me off the most as well!
Game save data? No, my documents.
Application config files? Again, my documents.
Temporary documents I don't care about keeping? Downloads, duh.
My actual documents? Desktop.
My desktop? Turned icons off because it was too messy.
Just another day using Windows...
System wide config for an application? Lets put that under C:\users*?????
Don't forget that appdata nowadays has 3 sub folders, local, locallow, and roaming.
Also there's C:\programdata
Also some programs just store it in the user folder, the documents folder, or games/ my games folder if they are a game.
It could also be stored in the registry.
Oooh the registry is even more fun.
And half the time you'll find it in the registry too. Linux has proven quite well that an OS doesn't need a registry.
Oh, and what's with ProgramData and AppData being two completely different things. I understand the difference between the two directories, but there is no difference between a program and an app. Everywhere else it's Machine/User.
Linux has proven quite well that an OS doesn't need a registry.
Gnomes dconf would like to have a word with you. It's really interesting how the Gnome people seem to get rid of every useful feature as it might confuse the user or be complex, but on the other hand add this registry-like anti-feature to make the system just as unmanageable as Windows.
What you can find in dconf is well organized compared to what is inside of the regedit hell.
What the fuck is local low? I don't understand. Local is Billy G's jizz... I get that... And Roaming is for poor plebs. But why LocalLow? Is it like cache? But I have seens games saving their save files there. I don't understand
The folders actually do make sense.
Roaming: this data can be moved between machines in a domain if you have a roaming profile. E.g. go to another workstation and your browser configuration is the same? Means it's in Roaming.
Local: this data will not be synchronized between machines when you roam. This could be your browser's cache.
LocalLow: like local, but for applications that are "low integrity", like Internet Explorer. These folders have special properties. https://helgeklein.com/blog/internet-explorer-in-protected-mode-how-the-low-integrity-environment-gets-created/
Local is for regular apps, LocalLow is for depressed apps and Roaming is for high apps looking for munchies.
This isn't really accurate for either side. For Linux, I've had crap shove configs in ~, /etc, /var, at least.
On Windows, it could be literally anywhere or in the registry.
I feel mildly aroused when I see a program or a game that collects everything in it's folder and can be used from a USB drive. Some paid, industrial grade software leaves so much traces and depends on so much different hidden files and keys it's making me sick.
Any game can be used from a USB drive if that USB drive is running a live OS.
Or in /home/username/.applicationname/ if they want to be annoying.
This should be considered a war crime, and doubly so when they don't even have the decency to prefix it with a dot (looking at you Golang). It's my home folder, not a dumping grounds for random trash.
The setting you're looking for could be in %appdata%
It could be in %localappdata%
It could be in C:\ProgramData.
It could be in the registry. It could be in HKLM. It could be in HKCU.
It could be in any of the userdirs.
It could be in the application's directory.
HA! Joke's on you, it was an envvar all along!
True story.
Oh that setting is super easy to change, just go to run, type in regedit, expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE then just scroll until you find CLSID-73838-abf83-c758d57-87a90ba, set the value to zero and reboot!
Mozilla products:
"What is this .config folder you talk about?"
not seen in this comic: the linux file isn't where the comic/manual/internet nerds says it should be, and there's no realistic way to find it
Despite what developers do at the end of the day, there are conventions for application directories on every OS.
I just use the directories crate in Rust.
windows is simple, all configs are keys accesible via reddit
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^half^ ^the^ ^time^ ^its^ ^been^ ^deleted^ ^because^ ^Spez^ ^is^ ^a^ ^greedy^ ^pigboy^
Some people have diacritics and spaces in their usernames, which wreaks havoc for badly written programs accessing AppData or folders in the user's "home" directory, such as Documents. And there are lots of such programs.
When setting up Windows, use a short and memorable, DOS-compatible username, and then change it later (the home folder will still have the old name). You can then move indiidual Libraries (Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures and Videos) to the root of D:\ too.
They don't have config files in Windows. Apps just throw things everywhere without rhyme of reason
Tell that to the file I just dropped in to ~/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/compatdata/1086940/pfx
I use Arch btw
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