Unix & Linux

Questions tagged [dot-files]

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A dotfile is a file or directory whose name begins with a dot. These files are typically found in user home directories, contain configuration information and hidden from view on Unix systems.

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What is the correct path to store a user specific credentials file?

I guess ~/.config (XDG_CONFIG_HOME) is not correct because that way users have to be constantly aware which files are safe to commit to their dotfiles repository.
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1answer
50 views

My dotfiles bash script somehow deleted its own directory?

I use git to track my dotfiles across multiple machines. I wrote a pretty simple script in the repo, which backs up any outdated existing dotfiles and then creates symbolic links to each of the up-to-...
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1answer
161 views

git with ssh keeps asking for passphrase everytime

I'm using a git bare repository for managing dotfiles, and some other repositories for custom DWM build and all. I use SSH for pushing and pulling from git, but it keeps asking me my SSH passphrase ...
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Since SVN does not support exporting the private repo from GitLab, is there some solution?

My private repo from GitLab is private and exclusive only for me. It is about doftiles, apps and fonts, the first due to confidential information and the latter two due to copyrights and EULA laws. ...
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4answers
98 views

How can I exclude . and .. when listing only hidden items?

ls -d .* lists only hidden "items" (files & directories). (I think) technically it lists every item beginning with ., which includes the current . and above .. directories. I also know that ls -A ...
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How to configure bspwm with home-manager

I'm using nixos and trying to configure bspwm with home-manager. However, whenever I attempt to login using xorg, it fails saying "Failed to start session". Does anybody know anything about this? My ...
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1answer
11 views

How can I fix my dotfiles that prevent pulseaudio from working?

I am currently using arch with i3-gaps. I just moved my /home/ directory to a separate partition. Now pulseaudio no longer works. I think that the problem is related to my dotfiles in my /home/ ...
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50 views

Using stow command with t flag to backup and restore dotfiles easily

I have some files inside this forder: Macintosh HD/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Code/User/snippets/ |_ svg.code-snippets |_ react.code-snippets and I have also a dotfiles directory in ...
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1answer
99 views

What is the difference between dotfile and dot config? [duplicate]

Examples: .bashrc .config/fish/config.fish I would like to know which is more common and what pros and cons they each have. I imagine a dotfile would be easier to change, since it is right in the ...
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2answers
32 views

Should I install softwares first or sync the dotfiles on new Ubuntu install? [closed]

I'm writing a script to execute after a new installation of Minimal Ubuntu(mini.iso) to install all the software I need and sync the dotfiles I backed up previously. What's the best way to avoid ...
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1answer
96 views

Are Ubuntu dotfiles compatible with Arch dotfiles?

I'm debating whether I should switch from Windows to Linux and I've decided that if I do, I'll be using Arch Linux (most likely manjaro specifically). Mainly because I don't want to have to deal with: ...
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82 views

Can echo be combined to produce a single result of .*/ and */?

The echo command outputs differing results based on the expression passed to it. The working directory is /home/etc $ echo .*/ / ../ .cache/ .config/ .gnupg/ .local/ .mozilla/ .ssh/ $ echo ./* ./...
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Difficulty reloading changed shell function

I have a function defined in a file ~/.shell/functions.sh that is loaded by .zshrc with a line: source ~/.shell/functions.sh However, when I try to update the function after altering it by doing ...
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3answers
234 views

link config files

Problem I'm trying to move my config files from a .dotfiles folder, and link those files to the corresponding config path. Example In this example I'm trying $ ln -s ~/.dotfiles/nvim/init.vim ~/....
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1answer
149 views

How do I invoke Zsh and skip .zshrc or .zshenv?

How do I invoke Zsh interactively while asking it to not process .zshrc?
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2answers
2k views

SSHing into system with ZSH as default shell doesn't run /etc/profile

I'm experiencing a strange behavior on some of our machines atm. At least, it seems strange to me and my colleagues and we didn't find any explanation for it :) [edit 1] Next paragraph seems to be ...
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3answers
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How to apply the changes to my `.zshrc` file after edit?

I just edited the .zshrc file to configure my zsh on FreeBSD. For example, updating the PATH system variable: path+=/usr/local/openjdk12/bin How do I make the changes take effect? Must I logout ...
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3answers
121 views

Kind of files which just have extension, like .bashrc or .cshrc

I'm wondering about files that have a name starting with a dot e.g. .bashrc or .cshrc have distinct feature? (Could we say .bashrc extension?) Maybe these kind of files are a member of a category? ...
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2answers
170 views

How to avoid copying “..” while using cp command in terminal? [duplicate]

I am using CentOS7 and when I use command cp /root/test/.* /root/test1 it also copies .. which copies all the files and folder in the parent directory of the source. How to avoid copying . and ..?
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1answer
56 views

Can you hide files and folders on MacOS the same way as Linux?

I'm trying to make a Python script that creates a hidden folder for a specific file I'm creating across any platform. I'm aware you can do this easily with Linux by placing "." as the beginning of a ...
4
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1answer
1k views

Dot in front of file [duplicate]

If there is a file and the filename starts with a dot in front of it. Does that mean that you created the file and you are hiding stuff in it or can the files get created on their own without you ...
3
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1answer
234 views

Which files in $HOME defines the user preferences in gnome?

I'm backup/syncing my dotfiles in my $HOME-Directory via git. I don't want to sync everything of course, so I ignore everything via .gitignore and re-add the important files. * !.bash* .*.swp ....
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1answer
61 views

How do configure ZSH commands substition to not use backticks (`)?

I only want echo $(date) to return the date not the backticked version. echo $(date) # should return Wed Mar 6 09:50:41 EST 2019 echo `date` # should return `date`
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1answer
145 views

map ls -a to ls -A

I have tried to made an alias ls -a = ls -A, ending up with: bash: alias: `ls -a': invalid alias name I want ls -a without . and ... How can I get that?
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2answers
218 views

How to tar a directory including dotfiles, but omitting all reference to the directory itself

I want to back up home directories including the usual array of dotfiles, but I do not want the directory itself, or its permissions to be backed up or even mentioned. So, if I have a structure like ...
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1answer
437 views

Is there a totally empty Bash file I can use (or create) to extend .bashrc and .profile?

I know that by principle, one shouldn't change .bashrc and common changes like creating an alias should better be done in .profile instead. When I rent a new IaaS system with Bash as main shell, the ...
0
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1answer
67 views

Can not edit file symlinked (Permission denied)

I started using dotfiles to sync everything I need to github. But I got some problem when symblink config files from dotfiles/ to ~/ Examples: $ rm ~/.config/termite/config $ ln -s ~/dotfiles/...
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1answer
30 views

Excluding certain files from moving but move hidden ones too

In my deployment script I have such as code to exclude certain files. shopt -s extglob mv !(deploy.sh|file1|file2) ~/$public It works almost well but ignores hidden files so they are not moved. How ...
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6answers
504 views

How do I match only dotfiles in bash? [duplicate]

rm -rf .* will only not end horribly because rm refuses to delete . and ... How do I exclude these special directories from a glob pattern? This is not solved by dotglob since I want to match only ...
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1answer
117 views

How to save settings for Synaptic (Graphical package manager)?

I have dotfiles where I store the settings from all the programs that I use. I mean files with the extension .conf, .cfg, .rc and etc. But I cannot find a place where the Synaptic keeps its settings. ...
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1answer
114 views

cp -r <Folder Name> .<Folder Name>

I run the command cp -r <Folder Name> .<Folder Name>. It have done something, but I cannot find it. Example: cp -r Agent .Agent.old # (There is a dot symbol on the 2nd folder name)
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2answers
97 views

Remove files/folders that start with “.” [duplicate]

This command: rm -rf "$HOME/.quicklock/locks/"* does seem to remove files or folders in the locks directory, which start with "." how can I remove those files too? Any other filenames that would ...
1
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1answer
534 views

How to disable oh-my-zsh features only in PyCharm terminal

When using the shell in PyCharm, I have noticed that when I type quickly, the auto-complete feature will cause characters to be dropped. Is there a convenient way to start /bin/zsh and cause it to ...
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3answers
419 views

Setting Vim to use shell syntax for dotfiles?

I am creating multiple files (.school_aliases and .git_aliases) to put my aliases in for organization. However, Vim doesn't highlight syntax for these files automatically like for .bashrc or ....
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2answers
623 views

Backup only hidden (dot) files with duplicity

I would like to backup config files (hidden, starting with a dot) with duplicity. Only files, no directories. The following command duplicity --include '/home/foo/.*' --exclude '/home/foo/**' /home/...
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1answer
1k views

Grouping hidden files and directories with ls

How can ls be flagged to sort .-prefixed hidden directories and files in groups so that its output is sorted as visible directories, hidden directories, visible files, then hidden files? I currently ...
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0answers
203 views

Windows 10 ISO content looks odd (“.” directory)

I've downloaded Windows 10 Disc Image from microsoft.com recently. I mounted it using Archive Mounter in Ubuntu. And I saw just a hidden folder "." and an empty "README.TXT" file in the root. ls -aR ...
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1answer
160 views

Migrate from Linux Mint to OS X [closed]

So my trusty Linux box died after 10 years of faithful service. The memorial will be Friday afternoon. Anyway, I am moving to a Mac (lesser of two evils - a Win 10 machine was the other option), and ...
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2answers
5k views

cp behaves weirdly when . (dot) or .. (dot dot) are the source directory

This answer reveals that one can copy all files - including hidden ones - from directory src into directory dest like so: mkdir dest cp -r src/. dest There is no explanation in the answer or its ...
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2answers
914 views

Symlinking all dot-files and -directories

Say I have a folder ~/dot containing some files and directories, such as zshrc, Xresources, and emacs.d. How do I create symlinks to all of those in ~, but such that the symlinks begin with a dot (....
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2answers
2k views

Is there a way to have ls show hidden files for only certain directories?

I have a directory where regardless of user or options selected, I would like it to always show hidden files. I know the -a option will show hidden files. I just want to automate the decision on ...
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1answer
420 views

Why does /etc/profile check PS1 rather than the -i flag in $-

I know of two ways to test whether a shell is interactive, [[ $- == *i* ]] && echo "-i option flag indicates interactive" [ -n "$PS1" ] && echo "prompt is set" I've read that ...
3
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6answers
6k views

UNIX: How to change all hidden files to visible in a multiple sub directories

I have hundreds of sub directories in a directory that all have hidden files in them that I need to remove the period at the beginning of them to make them visible. I found a command to go into each ...
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2answers
367 views

Good way to prevent student from messing program settings in /home/user

I am a teacher and I use Linux which is great! But students are curious about this "new" operating system they do not know and in GUI they tweak program settings which affects hidden files inside /...
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2answers
17k views

rm wildcard not working

I want to delete all .swp files recursively. However: rm -r *.swp Gives: rm: cannot remove ‘*.swp’: No such file or directory Just to be sure, ls -all gives: total 628 drwxr--r--. 8 przecze ...
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0answers
33 views

Methods to saving system configuration files [duplicate]

Normally user-specific config files would be dotfiles in the home-directory. If the user wanted a little more, they could put it in a dotfiles folder and symlink the files or use gnu stow to handle ...
0
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1answer
136 views

Bash use alternate dotfile?

I want to load my personalized bash file ~/.bashrc.me instead of the one that is located at ~/.bashrc I was hoping there was something to the effect of: bash --dotfile=.bashrc.me Does such a thing ...
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2answers
497 views

Hiding files without affecting the software or operating system's functionality [closed]

Random software keeps on creating folders in my home folder which gets messed up and disorganized. I decided to clean things up. I added a dot . in the beginning of the folder's names in order to hide ...
2
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1answer
2k views

Where to put bash configuration for newly created users? [duplicate]

I have an assignment and I'm confused which bash configuration file to edit. I'm supposed to edit a bash configuration file and change the PS1 prompt and add an environment variable that searches ~/...
2
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1answer
8k views

Remove everything within directory using for loop

I am trying to remove large amount of mails (mostly mail delivery failed) from my server using rm -rf /home/*/mail/new/* And I am getting -bash: /usr/bin/rm: Argument list too long I tried using ...

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