I've been uncertain about this since I started using Ubuntu, and I haven't found in any config files I've been through a clarification for setting things up.

When you have a config file with blocks commented out, is it usually expected that you uncomment that block, or that you write your own block below it?

The most recent example taht I can think of is this:
Taken from /etc/apache2/apache2.conf:

As you can see, I want to change AllowOverride to enable .htaccess files (originally AllowOverride None)

Now do I need to change this and leave it commented (althought it would seem to defeat the purpose), uncomment it (which so far has caused an error... syntax?), or simply copy/paste my own version just below this?

This is so basic it's embarassing, but knowing for sure would help me a lot in future troubleshooting.

Thanks,
-SS

Commented out lines in config files are typically a) examples, and/or b) default values for your information. They become self-documenting examples of usage.

Leave the commented values, and add your own uncommented version below. This will allow easy diffs in the future when there are updates.

Hi,

I like to leave the commented examples as they are. I will then use the examples to produce my own. I will time stamp the new along with comments for what has been done and why.

Ok, thanks for the advice!