The Complete Guide to Configuration Files

Configuration File Icon Computer applications will quite often have a set of options whose value can be defined by the user. In modern, graphical operating systems and applications these options are usually defined through a graphical user interface, or GUI. But for traditionally text based operating systems, like Linux, it is not uncommon to edit a configuration file manually.

Configuration files are any file, usually text based, that define the values for a range of options used by an application. They can range from just a few lines of text right through to many thousands of lines, and editing a configuration file does usually require a bit of patience and skill.

This guide takes a look at the configuration files for some common applications, with practical tips on how to customize them.

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