Hello there,
I have a very, very general question about Linux use in general: I’m used to check online how to solve my problems, but many times (and I’m sure I’m not the only one) I end up with this situation:
Expert person: To do whathever you are trying to do, edit the /etc/what/ever/dir/solution.conf file and insert the following…
So I go into the specified directory, which exists, but I don’t find the quoted file, remaining stuck in the situation I was at the beginning with the unpleasant feeling I am missing something or that my system is not working the way it’s expected to.
This said, my question is quite simple: is there a procedure, a “check-list” or a general advice to follow when people end up in this situation?
To give an example, I have a Lenovo Thinkbook 16 Gen 6, 16GB of RAM, Intel Core i5 1335u and no dedicated GPU, so I was looking at the dedicated EndeavourOS page for Intel Graphics cards. In the “Tips and tricks” section, they suggest to modify the /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf file: I have the folder, but I don’t have the file. What should I do? Shall I create the file and paste inside the suggested script? Or maybe, it’s not my case and I have missed something, so it’s better not to do this operation?
I think it would be useful to add a little paragraph in the Wiki where this case is mentionned, because it’s not the first time that this situation happens to me. I am of course opened to any advice (or critics!) on this topic, maybe it’s just me seeing problems where there is nothing, or I am just missing some information about the Linux world : )
Whenever you see a file in a directory that ends in conf.d that means it is a directory that expects “drop-ins”. These are files that override only the parts of the config you specify. These files will almost always need to be created by you.
If it is something else, then you need to do more research. It is possible the information you are getting is bad information, not suitable for your distro or requires packages you don’t have installed.
…which can be done by adding the following line to your configuration file, if you want…
For what I understand, I expect to at least find the place where the lines must be added :')
This is the only thing I’m pointing out, as a semi-newbie of Linux it’s not really easy to understand the situation I’m in.
Is it really any different (or worse) than being told to run ‘regedit32’ (sorry if I got the filename wrong..been years) and add a key & value of type IntLong (WindowsKey,‘True’) under WindowsControlSettings?
If the file does not exist .. you add all the lines, in order, to the ‘new’ file .. ‘where’ is not required because ‘at the beginning’ is implied.
When dealing with config files and less-than-perfectly-accurate language it might also sometimes be assumed the user understands the property-option relationship in the file in question and so only differences are instructed. In our example of an xorg configuration file you might see something like here and then it should be understood that the option would be applied the same way other options are, not simply the sole line of a file.
Some personal critical thinking must be exercised when parsing information - not all sources are going to be overly explanatory.
Dalto already explained pretty well this specific case and cases like it:
But I might also mention that
This config will only impact xorg sessions. The proposed config would have no relevance during a wayland session.
No, it’s not. And I am not complaining that it’s better or worse than Windows, actually I am glad that I have the possibility to, potentially, understand every action I do without running a black box .exe that randomly asks for root privilegies. I am just asking for clarifications on what to do in such situation where I’m told to edit a file that I haven’t, question that has been answered in an upper reply.
Yeah, I just wanted to make clear they all have obfuscated methodology But yeah, historically everything in Unix was a text file (that’s slowly changing..sadly) and editable.
But yeah, historically everything in Unix was a text file (that’s slowly changing..sadly) and editable.