Re: is the number of dot files a measure of the darkness of Linux?:-D
On Sun 16 May 2021 at 20:30:03 (+0200), Patrice Duroux wrote:
>
> 2. After this I was curious about the overall content of all the packages
> on any dot files (including directories). For that I used the following to
> 2 commands:
> # the packages concerned
> apt-file --filter-origins Debian --regex search '/\.' | cut -d ':' -f 1 |
> uniq -c | sort -h
> # the top 10 of dot files
> apt-file --filter-origins Debian --regex search '/\.' | cut -d ':' -f 2 |
> grep -o '/\..*' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rh | head -10
The ones that concerned me (too strong, perhaps—just raised my
eyebrows) were those in /etc. Modifying the command above, here's
a "complete" list:
$ apt-file --filter-origins Debian --regex search '/\.' | grep -v ': /usr' | grep -v ': /var' | grep -v '.placeholder$' | grep -v '.htaccess$' | grep -v '/skel/'
elogind: /lib/elogind/system-shutdown/.keep_dir
elogind: /lib/elogind/system-sleep/.keep_dir
evilwm: /etc/xdg/.evilwmrc_simple
fake: /etc/fake/.fakerc
gridsite: /etc/gridsite/.gacl
ncbi-data: /etc/ncbi/.ncbirc
ncbi-data: /etc/ncbi/.nlmstmanrc
netdata-core: /etc/netdata/.opt-out-from-anonymous-statistics
pixelmed-apps: /etc/pixelmed/.com.pixelmed.display.DicomImageViewer.properties
svxlink-server: /etc/svxlink/.procmailrc
trafficserver: /etc/trafficserver/body_factory/default/.body_factory_info
util-vserver: /etc/vservers/.defaults/cachebase
util-vserver: /etc/vservers/.distributions/f7/apt/sources.list
util-vserver: /etc/vservers/.distributions/fc1/apt/sources.list
util-vserver: /etc/vservers/.distributions/fc2/apt/sources.list
util-vserver: /etc/vservers/.distributions/fc3/apt/sources.list
util-vserver: /etc/vservers/.distributions/fc4/apt/sources.list
util-vserver: /etc/vservers/.distributions/fc5/apt/sources.list
util-vserver: /etc/vservers/.distributions/fc6/apt/sources.list
util-vserver: /etc/vservers/.distributions/rh9/apt/sources.list
util-vserver: /etc/vservers/.distributions/suse91/apt/sources.list
$
I eliminated .placeholder for obvious reasons, and I think .keep_dir
performs the same function. I assume that /skel/ directories hold
dotfiles to be installed elsewhere, like bash's ones, for example.
I presume there's not much choice about .htaccess because this is a
well-known control file. Reviewing my list from the earlier thread
about .pwd.lock, I think .git/ probably has a similar constraint.
As for /var and /usr—looking at my own system's /var, there are two:
/var/cache/apparmor/…/.features and /var/spool/cron/atjobs/.SEQ
and I might assume that .features avoids collisions with arbitrary
program names, and .SEQ makes the directory appear empty when there
are no jobs waiting to be done.
Similarly, I'm guessing that /usr/share/…/<fontfamily>/.uuid is
some unique version index that mustn't appear to be a fontname
in that family's directory. (123 of 172 occurrences in /usr.)
Eliminating one dot-directory, .git/, for a source package
I unpacked, here are all the rest:
/usr/lib/jvm/.java-1.11.0-openjdk-amd64.jinfo
/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/PyQt5/uic/widget-plugins/.noinit
/usr/share/debian-reference/.htaccess
/usr/share/dictionaries-common/site-elisp/.nosearch
/usr/share/doc/debian-history/docs/.htaccess
/usr/share/doc/python2.7/html/.buildinfo
/usr/share/doc/python3.7/html/.buildinfo
/usr/share/doc/texlive-doc/texlive/texlive-en/.dict.pws.gz
/usr/share/emacs/26.1/lisp/gnus/.dir-locals.el
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/dictionaries-common/.nosearch
/usr/share/fvwm/default-config/.stalonetrayrc
/usr/share/gnumeric/1.12.44/autoformat-templates/3D/.category
/usr/share/gnumeric/1.12.44/autoformat-templates/Classical/.category
/usr/share/gnumeric/1.12.44/autoformat-templates/Colourful/.category
/usr/share/gnumeric/1.12.44/autoformat-templates/Financial/.category
/usr/share/gnumeric/1.12.44/autoformat-templates/General/.category
/usr/share/gnumeric/1.12.44/autoformat-templates/List/.category
/usr/share/pandoc/data/docx/_rels/.rels
/usr/share/pandoc/data/pptx/_rels/.rels
/usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/latex/tools/.tex
/usr/src/linux-headers-4.19.0-14-amd64/.config
/usr/src/linux-headers-4.19.0-14-amd64/.kernelvariables
/usr/src/linux-headers-4.19.0-16-amd64/.config
/usr/src/linux-headers-4.19.0-16-amd64/.kernelvariables
Going through just _that_ list and working out their justifications
would not be profitable, I think.
> They are very diverse and include some .git* ones. Are they always useful
> to provide?
> Is this something related to the Debian Policy? tracked by Debian
> Maintainer and/or in the scope of some QA tools?
>
> My opinion (as a sysadmin) is that I am not a big fan of dot files and
> moreover when they are not intended to be reserved (better restricted?) to
> the userland.
I'm not a fan of using them unnecessarily, particularly in /etc/, but
I wouldn't want to restrict them where they bring about some benefit.
Cheers,
David.
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