alt Hacker NewsOne of the annoyances of Linux is working out where configuration information is, following through multiple layers of indirection and files over-riding other files. This looks like adding another layer, another place to look, and if you're reading the man file for a shell (for example) it probably won't even mention that this could invalidate the information contained in that in the man file.
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> working out where configuration information is
Generally, good behaved applications have an entry in their man page that spells out these details for you, so you don't have to work out anything.
To be fair the author shows an example of using NixOS. It's absolutely another layer of indirection (probably several) but it does make that usual Linux "fun" less problematic because of its immutable nature and API design.
Tomorrow: modify man pages from kernel space!
Always check the man pages..
You're not wrong. In a worst case scenario I resort to using strace to figure out where a program is reading config from.. from what I understand, if this kernel module is in use then even that approach wouldn't help.
But since the use case is personal dotfiles, I imagine the user isn't going to forget that they set this up.