Ubuntu Secrets Guide?

[Gene Heskett]

On Wednesday 17 October 2012 10:27:32 Amichai Rotman did opine:

> Hi all,
> 
> Back in the day, before I discovered the wonders of Linux, around the
> mid 90's, I used to read 1000 pages guides by IDG called "Windows 95
> Secrets" - books that went deep into details on configuring and
> tweaking Windows, even in the registry.
> 
> I am looking for a similar guide for Ubuntu. A guide that explains the
> role of each configuration file, so I can tweak it to my needs. For
> example: to change the Update Manager interval, I need to edit the
> /etc/cron.daily/apt file. Where do I find tips like that?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Amichai.

That isn't a viable project from the maintainers standpoint.  W95, 
including its service packs, was a stable release, existing for a long 
enough period of time that most of its foibles either had documented 
workarounds, or you waited for W98 before your shiny new USB stuff was 
usable.  That of course was Microsoft being late to the party, as usual.

In linux, real bugs are generally taken care of in just a few hours from 
their discovery, and the fix then filters thru the distributions until your 
package manager tells you its available.  But its not automatic, you MUST 
be running the update-manager in the first place so you get the 
notifications, and YOU must ok the installation of the bug fixed code, 
occasionally requiring a reboot to bring it into service.  Trying to track 
that much activity in one place would involve writing about 50k of new text 
into such a database on a daily basis.  The chances of that happening are 
someplace between zero and point double ought zip.

If you like to stay current, subscribe to the mailing lists that cover your 
interests, there are hundreds of special interest lists, not all of which 
are as busy as the linux kernel list, which can run toward 400 msgs a day.  
Some will go days before a new posting takes place.

Changes in how things work for more in-convenient :) use take a little 
longer, and occasionally an update of the whole install to the next 
version.

Cheers, Gene
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