The action of modifying a program's behavior, generally by modifying a text file.
79
votes
3answers
10k views
33
votes
3answers
28k views
What do the options `ServerAliveInterval` and `ClientAliveInterval` in sshd_config do, precisely?
I found this question, but I'm sorry I don't quite understand the settings on the two variables ServerAliveInterval and ClientAliveInterval mentioned in the accepted response. If my local server is ...
18
votes
4answers
5k views
How to properly and easy configure `xdg-open` without any enviroment?
I'm using OpenBox window manager without any desktop enviroment.
xdg-open behaves strangely. It opens everything with firefox.
$ xdg-settings --list
Known properties:
default-web-browser ...
12
votes
2answers
1k views
Why do some applications use ~/.config/appname for their config data while others use ~/.appname?
I've noticed that some applications put their configuration files to ~/.config/appname while others use ~/.appname (the classic way, AFAIK) for this. What's the sense in this distinction and what ...
11
votes
2answers
442 views
How to keep dotfiles system-agnostic?
Due to work I have recently started using OS X and have set it up using homebrew in order to get a similar experience as with Linux.
However, there are quite a few differences in their settings. Some ...
11
votes
2answers
1k views
How to separate Awesome's `rc.lua` configuration into multiple files?
I've just moved to Awesome WM from OpenBox. I like that it's very extensible, customizable and I have huge control about window layout. I like structured and organized things and I'd like to separate ...
11
votes
3answers
503 views
version control for /etc under *BSD
What turnkey solutions exist to put /etc under version control, under various unices? Turnkey doesn't necessarily mean part of the base install, but the following features would be nice:
hooks into ...
10
votes
1answer
7k views
Ignore whitespaces changes in all git commands
I've found tons of sites that explain how to have git warn you when you're changing line endings, or miscellaneous other techniques to prevent you from messing up an entire file. Assume it's too late ...
9
votes
3answers
2k views
Is there a 'rc' configuration file for grep/egrep? (~/.egreprc?)
I usually do some grep when developing, and there are some extensions that I always don't want to look for (like *.pyc).
Is it possible to create a ~/.egreprc or something like that, and put some ...
9
votes
2answers
4k views
How do I cycle through panes inside a window in tmux like in screen?
I thought Tmux - move window to pane was the same question but it doesn't seem to be.
Coming from using GNU screen regularly, I'm looking for tmux to do the same things. On of the things I do ...
9
votes
3answers
2k views
How can I bind multiple tmux commands to one keystroke?
Specifically I'm trying to give a notification after some command was completed. So, for example, if I reload my configuration file, I'd like to have some confirmation that it worked, which might be ...
9
votes
2answers
1k views
Yanking URLs in w3m
I have been using w3m for a couple of weeks and am convinced that it is my preferred text browser - with one exception.
Is there any way to yank URLs to the clipboard without using the mouse?
I have ...
9
votes
2answers
205 views
best way to set up separate linux environment in ~
I do most of my work (involves a lot of C/Python) on a development server that is shared with several other people. As a result we all seem to do a bit of the system administration chores (there is ...
8
votes
1answer
5k views
How do I set a user's default .bashrc file?
On Ubuntu 10.4 I have edited the /etc/bash.bashrc file to set some variables like the command history size (HISTSIZE=5000), however if I create a new users Ubuntu by default gives them a .bashrc file ...
8
votes
4answers
401 views
What are your best practices and future plans for deploying unixoid desktops?
I have been setting up Linux desktops for a non-profit radio observatory. For me, this was the first time I had to think about "deploying" several identical machines, centralizing login, home ...
7
votes
3answers
552 views
Temporary .vimrc
Is there a way to read a .vimrc file for only a single ssh session? That is, when I log in I perform some operation so that vim uses say /tmp/myvimrc until I log out?
I do not want to permanently ...
7
votes
4answers
1k views
Keeping config files synced across multiple pc's
I have a few different linux machines and a lot of config files (and folders) on each.
For example:
~/.ssh/config
~/.config/openbox/rc.xml
~/.config/openbox/autostart.sh
~/.scripts/ ( folder )
...
7
votes
4answers
14k views
automount nfs: autofs timeout settings for unreliable servers - how to avoid hangup?
I'm running a small server for our flat share. It's mostly a file server with some additional services. The clients are Linux machines (mostly Ubuntu, but some others Distros too) and some Mac(-Book)s ...
7
votes
3answers
4k views
How to place an application on the second monitor with awesome-wm?
I recently got a second monitor at work and want to configure all with my window-manager: awesome. I run into a problem to put some applications on a tag on a screen. For example I have a rule for ...
7
votes
2answers
4k views
How to configure network profiles in Centos?
I'm trying to setup two network profiles in Centos. One for at home, one for at work.
The home profile has a fixed IP address, fixed gateway and DNS server addresses. The work profile depends on DHCP.
...
7
votes
1answer
166 views
Disable festival from 'noticing' abbreviations, by editing .festivalrc
The developers of the festival text-to-speech program do not seem to have been aware that DEC can stand for the Digital Equipment Corporation as easily as it can stand for December, and that SEP can ...
7
votes
1answer
574 views
How to make Firefox open mailto: links with mutt in terminal
All I want to do is pass mailto: links to urxvt -e mutt -F ~/path/to/muttrc with the rest of the mailto: URL appended. I've tried every script I can find online that purports to do this, from simple:
...
6
votes
5answers
2k views
How do I configure mutt to display the date header in my local time zone in the pager?
When I view a message in the pager mutt displays the time in the Date header in UTC rather than my local time zone. The index view displays the local time correctly. I found this old mailing list post ...
6
votes
2answers
1k views
Is it possible to include file in config file of zsh? How?
I'd like to have a file eg. f with only zsh aliases (pureness reasons). Then I'd like to include f file in my .zshrc file, so that the aliases defined in f are visible in .zshrc.
Is it possible?
If ...
6
votes
3answers
1k views
Make changes to /sys persistent between boots
I want to make "echo 1 > /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/run" persistent between boots. I know that I can edit /etc/sysctl.conf to make /proc filesystem changes persist, but this doesn't seem to work for /sys. ...
6
votes
2answers
8k views
What's the difference between /etc/rc.local and /etc/init.d/rc.local?
I want to add a permanent iptables rule to my new VPS, and after brief google search i was surprised that where is two places this rule can be added, that seems like identical: /etc/rc.local and ...
6
votes
4answers
2k views
Emacs sync w/ Google Calendar and Contacts?
Is there a way to use Emacs to sync with Google Calendar and Google Contacts, ideally keeping a local copy so I can access them offline?
6
votes
2answers
470 views
zsh tab completion on empty line
I'd like a tcsh'ism that I haven't been able to find: On a blank line with no content, I want to press the tab key and see the equivalent of an ls. That is to say I want
$ <tab>
to do ...
6
votes
1answer
2k views
How to make startx use alternate xinitrc?
I don't have a desktop manager installed (and I don't want to). After logging in through the terminal I use startx to start the GUI. I have entries in ~/.xinitrc for my GUI sessions. Right now I have ...
6
votes
3answers
163 views
Managing multiple configurations (/etc) - With a VCS?
I have a machine that needs to have two configurations that I need to maintain (the machine is occasionally moved between two environments and has different roles in each environment).
Note: This is ...
6
votes
2answers
1k views
How to refresh all bash shells using a command/script?
Whenever I modify my .bashrc file, I have to go to each bash shell and source it again to effect the changes.
Is there a better way to do this? Some command that run once will automatically do a ...
6
votes
2answers
1k views
Auto-run script when Wifi card is plugged in (udev)
I've been trying to use udev to make a Debian system run a bash script when a wireless card is connected.
So far I created this file /etc/udev/rules.d/wifi-detect.rules:
ACTION=="add", ...
6
votes
1answer
5k views
How to configure a filesystem+LVM for effective usage of SSD?
ext4 is one of the filesystems recommended for using on SSDs (with a number of built-in techniques and advices how to tune it for better performance and wear-levelling of SSDs).
I want to install a ...
5
votes
1answer
1k views
Replacing multiple lines in sed or awk
I'm trying to use sed or awk to replace 5 lines in a smb file but I just don't have any idea how to deal with the newlines.
5
votes
1answer
2k views
Why don't Page U/Down, Home/End work in less on Solaris over ssh from Ubuntu?
I need to work on a Solaris server over ssh from my Ubuntu (Lucid) laptop. I got Home/End Insert/Delete Page Up/Down working in csh and bash using bindkey and ~/.inputrc, respectively. But I can't ...
5
votes
1answer
1k views
Unicode characters in uxterm and dwm statusbar
I would like to display Chinese characters in dwm's status bar. More specifically I would like the symbols to represent the different tags in dwm. Using an online converter, I found that the unicode ...
5
votes
2answers
5k views
Can I change the default mail recipient on cron jobs?
I believe that if there is any output from a cronjob it is mailed to the user who the job belongs to. I think you can also add something like [email protected] at the top of the cron file to ...
5
votes
1answer
124 views
Customize Lynx's filetype behavior
I love lynx. I love browsing without tabs. Call me a luddite, but I only use a modern browser if I have to. Which is about twice a day, for a few minutes at most.
There's one thing I really really ...
5
votes
1answer
3k views
How do I convert a kernel .config file from 32-bit to 64-bit?
At this page you can download a configuration file that lets you target a particular notebook architecture during the compilation of a new 32-bit Linux kernel.
I need a 64 bit version.
What do I ...
5
votes
2answers
2k views
Change default applications used by gnome-open, exo-open, xdg-open, gvfs-open and kde-open
How to change the applications associated with certain file-types for gnome-open, exo-open, xdg-open, gvfs-open and kde-open?
Is there a way by editing config files or by a command-line command?
Is ...
5
votes
1answer
191 views
What do the kernel options in braces mean?
I saw a kernel option today in menuconfig that used braces for its checkbox.
{*} Button
This isn't listed in the legend at the top of the screen.
[*] built-in [ ] excluded <M> module ...
5
votes
2answers
388 views
escape characters in /etc/network/interfaces
I want to be sure that whatever string I pass into the line wpa-ssid "abc" in /etc/network/interfaces won't be used to break out of the configuration.
All I can find in the manual is that \ can be ...
5
votes
2answers
6k views
How to make changes in nvidia-settings tool persistent
I want to disable VSync (it's called "Sync to VBlank" in nvidia-settings) for my nvidia graphics card.
But the configuration only takes effect if I start the nvidia-settings tool. After rebooting ...
5
votes
1answer
268 views
How can i split openbox `rc.xml` into multiple files?
I don't like big text configuration files. So, i'd like to split my rc.xml file into multiple files:
rc.xml
rc.keyboard.xml
rc.mouse.xml
5
votes
1answer
2k views
Changing Redhat Network Settings From DHCP to STATIC IP Via Configuration Files
In order to make the statically assigned IP work, I have already modified the file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 as follows:
DEVICE=eth0
IPADDR=10.33.17.143
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
...
5
votes
1answer
1k views
How can I save the Xterm configuration I set at runtime?
I configured my xterm using the CTRL-MiddleClick and CTRL-RightClick. Is there a way to export save these settings?
5
votes
1answer
484 views
ALSA dummy device - how to configure?
I am working on an audio stream between two virtual servers. For that, I have set up a dummy soundcard (as the vservers don't have a hw card) using modprobe snd-dummy.
That seems to work fine - I am ...
5
votes
1answer
222 views
UEFI boot Fedora from USB 2.0 on 3.0 port (l75d-a7280)
I'm trying to make a bootable usb in ubuntu for fedora, but my settings are not working.
I formatted the USB with FAT & Ext4, MBR, and Legacy BIOS bootable.
My BIOS allows the USB 3.0 controller ...
4
votes
1answer
256 views
configuration ethics (esthetics): /etc vs $HOME
Ok this may not be a very concrete question, and is perhaps subject to taste, yet I'm struggling to get this right so here it goes.
I have a computer.
This computer has linux on it (thank god). Arch ...
4
votes
4answers
142 views
Clean way to temporarily replace a config file?
I use a drawing program called Inkscape, which has both a GUI and a command line interface. When used on the command line, it has a large number of options that can only be controlled through a ...
