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Dotfiles matter! Please stop dumping files in users’ $HOME directories.
(dotfiles-matter.click)
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this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
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Linux
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You might wanna backup your dotfiles somewhere remote too. I literally lost dotfiles that I'd been building up for years because I couldn't remember the password to my Linux machine after coming back from vacation. Funny enough though, a couple hours after nuking my OS I magically remember my password.
Unless you disk was encrypted, you could have booted up a live distro and back up the files you needed (or even overwrite the shadow file to get a new password)
And maybe could still get them with testdisk 😁
I really did try so many forensic and recovery tools after remembering my password but with no luck 😂
I'm glad you tried! Stories of needless data loss really get to me 😹
In the late 90s I taught an intro course for folks who wanted to run *nix boxen (Solaris, IIRC). On the afternoon of the last day I had them swap places after lunch and gain root access to each others' machines. It was partly for root passwd recovery and other maintenance tasks, but also to demonstrate that physical access to the box was a serious issue.
After two years of typing in the same boot pass on my same laptop at my same job I woke up one day and couldn't remember it. Almost died trying. Right as I was reaching out to my admin it came to me.
Put your dotfiles in git (or source control of your choice)- massages it easier to propagate improvements across machines!
Oof. Yeah, I once forgot my LastPass password literally less than 30 seconds after entering it on another device. Muscle memory versus active memory kind of thing.
i couldn't recite my most-used passwords if i tried. i would need to 'air type' them out while doing so.