Hi all.

I have problem spending to much time try to find and open documents on my $HOME, because it cluttered by a lot of configurations files/directories.

This is "ls -a" in my home directory:
-------------
.
..
.ICEauthority
.Xauthority
.Xdefaults~
.aumixrc
.bash_history
.bash_login
.bash_login~
.bash_logout
.bashrc
.bashrc~
.bluefish
.cedit
.contentdb
.designer
.dfmdesk
.dfminfo
.dillo
.fluxbox
.fonts.cache-1
.fonts.conf
.gconf
.gconfd
.gimp-1.2
.gkrellm2
.gnome
.gnome2
.gnome2_private
.gqview
.gtkrc-kde
.icewm
.kderc
.mailcap
.mc
.mcoprc
.merge
.merge-DO_NOT_DELETE
.mime.types
.mmaker
.mozilla
.mplayer
.neditdb
.phoenix
.profile~
.screenrc
.ssh
.sversionrc
.viminfo
.vimrc
.wmrc
.xfce4
.xinitrc
.xinitrc-backup
.xinitrc~
.xmms
.xsession
.xsession-errors
.xsession~
.xwmconfig
Choices
Desktop
OpenOffice.org1.1
Projects
htdocs
java
mydata
ref
stuff
--------------

Can we move that annoying configurations (.xxx) to another directory ? For example to $HOME/.etc.
So at $HOME we will have only:

------
.etc <----- All configurations go under this directory
Choices
OpenOffice.org1.1
Projects
htdocs
java
mydata
ref
stuff
--------------

Thanks.

Well, the point of the hidden 'dot' files is that they are not visible when you run ls. Most, if not all of the applications expect your personal config information to be in your home directory in this format. Changing these to another directory would be very difficult afaik because most apps write these files automatically and specifying a different directory could require a hack in the source code.

My advice: don't run ls -a, and if X apps like file managers etc are showing dot files there is usually an option to "show/hide hidden files" or some such.

It would be a lot of hassle, and some programs just won't give you the option of where to store config files, so you'd have to symlink, which would kind of defy the point of it all, to get rid of stuff. Why not just ls instead of ls -a when looking for documents? They're not in hidden directories right? Slightly stupid answer i know, but i don't think there's a workable alternative. let's see what others say anyway

Why not just move all of your documents to subdirectories?? Sacrifice your $HOME directory to keep all the cofiguration files, and keep your documents in a "documents" subdirectory. You've already got what looks like a "Projects" subdirectory. So what's a little more organization gonna hurt?

I've got "documents", "projects", "downloads", "images", "user_install", and a number of other less-common directories.

> Well, the point of the hidden 'dot' files is that they are not visible when you run ls.

> My advice: don't run ls -a, and if X apps like file managers etc are showing dot files there is usually an option to "show/hide hidden files" or some such

I know dot means hidden.
The "ls -a" was to show you the real content of my $HOME, I don't use it often nor use it to open my documents.

The problem was on some applications, for example bluefish, quanta or midnight commander. They have file browsers that show hidden files/dir. Only because of your comment, I looked for the option to turn it off and found it. Thanks. I guess not everybody know about this.

> Sacrifice your $HOME directory to keep all the cofiguration files, and keep your documents in a "documents" subdirectory

I though about this idea too. I put all documents under /doc. However:
* It is only for my private laptop. Can't do that at the office.
* $HOME is no more than 'settings-keeper'. Funny, isn't it ?

> Changing these to another directory would be very difficult afaik because most apps write these files automatically and specifying a different directory could require a hack in the source code.

Damn. This is the worst case I expected.
Where can we send a suggestion to change this habit ?

I hope my wish is not too silly

>Where can we send a suggestion to change this habit ?

I don't think you're going to win that battle, as you would be fighting over 30 years of Unix tradition. If you really think about it, it is the best way to do things. You just need to get used to it.

yes, its a very good way.

Why? Because if you run your HOME directory on a seperate partition, you can save your settings between distro installs.

Also, since you keep your personal files in HOME, you just have to move HOME to get all your docs AND settings moved, very simple.

> I don't think you're going to win that battle, as you would be fighting over 30 years of Unix tradition.

You're right

> Because if you run your HOME directory on a seperate partition, you can save your settings between distro installs.

My idea it to put all personal settings under $HOME/etc.
I don't think it will lost that benefit.

>My idea it to put all personal settings under $HOME/etc.
>I don't think it will lost that benefit.

Youre right there...

I just had a thought though...all these programs read the value of your $HOME variable, so you could change your $HOME variable to "/home/<username>/etc/"

There may be a few unforeseen side-effects, but maybe giver' a try...