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Ask HN: Anyone else constantly improving their configuration files (dotfiles)?

5 points by PlayMeWhile ↗ HN
Lately I catch myself updating my config too often and it starts to feel counter productive. Does constant fiddling with the dotfiles pay off? Is it viable to have no personalised configuration at all? Or is "middle way" the best approach? Looking to hear wisdom from all perspectives.

6 comments

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chewz
Not always but I am having days like this. Instead of working I am fiddling with my .vimrc or .zshrc or .otherrc or creating some single-use script, chrome extension etc..

It feels like waste of time but occasionally it pays off after some time. And it gives myself some easily achievable satisfaction.

But on the other hand going for a walk would sometimes feel like better use of this time.

beatgammit
I stopped years ago.

I used to fiddle with my vimrc, but then I got frustrated whenever I had to had to use vim without the complex setup, so I just learned to use vim with mostly defaults. I used to fiddle with my bashrc/zshrc, and then I used fish, which has most of the features I need anyway. I used to mess with global coding style configs, and now I just commit them to the relevant repo.

Maybe I'm getting old, but it's just not nearly as interesting as getting stuff done. The last time I messed with it was when I tried to get Rust spiffed out with the Rust Language Server, but I ended up not using it.

vkaku
No. I don't tweak it unless I need to change a version based path.
dabockster
I stopped writing custom configs years ago. They kept breaking with every major OS update and seemed like a lot more trouble than they were worth.
nextos
A minimal customization is likely to bring most benefits while still being easy to maintain and unlikely to break with updates.

I have a quite small .emacs, and tiny user.js, .stumpwmrc, .bashrc and a few others. I think it's the way to go. Try to use as little software as possible, stuff that is well maintained, and don't fight its defaults too much.

In cases like emacs or vim, you do need some customization since they are trying to address such a wide userbase that their defaults are sometimes a bit odd, or just there for historical reasons and backward compatibility.