OT again sorry [Re: Interactive scripts (back on topic for once) [was Re: The "loop and a half"]]

[Paul Moore]

On 8 October 2017 at 17:43, Marko Rauhamaa <marko at pacujo.net> wrote:
> It is not at all easy for the Linux user to figure out what
> configuration options there are, and which ones are intended for
> end-user configuration. More and more, such tuning needs to be
> done via systemd unit files (or applicable GUI facilities) and the
> classical configuration files are deprecated. For example, how can a
> programmer get a core file of a crashing program? Why, you need to use
> the systemd-coredump service, of course:

One of the things I liked about Debian many years ago when I played
with Linux (when the options available were Debian, Red Hat, Slackware
and SuSE and that was about it) was that they typically "fixed" the
defaults of programs in the build options, so that there were almost
no config files in the default install. That made it pretty easy for a
user - you just set any extra options you want. With the other
distros, they tended to make changes via config files, which was
probably more transparent and easier to understand, but meant that a
naive user like me couldn't tell what I was "allowed" to change (and
by "allowed" I don't mean permission, more "if I change this, will I
end up spending days trying to work out what weird interaction with
other tools'expectations I just broke").

Sadly, those simpler days are long gone, and nowadays all Linux
distros as far as I can see have a mass of predefined config (and the
inevitable "config manager" tools to manage them). Not that I can
complain about this, as a Windows user, but I do have fond memories of
those simpler times :-) Obligatory xkcd: https://xkcd.com/297/

Paul