this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2025
96 points (96.2% liked)

Linux

56298 readers
918 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
AgreeableLandscape@lemmy.ml
nooter692@lemmy.ml
MarcellusDrum@lemmy.ml
cypherpunks@lemmy.ml
cyclohexane@lemmy.ml
d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz
96
Anyone else able to "sense" whether a solution on a forum will work before fully reading it through? Especially the long-winded ones. (lemmy.ml)
submitted 2 days ago by monovergent@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml
16 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Searching gives me the impression there's a million ways to solve the same problem on Linux, and I find myself profiling answers into about four categories at a glance:

  • Succinct: one or two-liner, a single config file, or just a few clicks
  • Long-winded song-and-dance: Full train of thought interspersed between various commands and logs, several config files (some of which don't already exist), or installing an obscure package that is no longer maintained
  • Specific to a desktop environment or version I don't have
  • Just looks wrong

I'll usually just take solutions from the first category, which almost always works, save for differences between updates and versions. Solutions in the second category also seem to end with a 50% chance of the OP unable to solve the problem. If I'm desperate, I'll try the second one, but it often ends up not working, eventually leading me to come up with a much cleaner solution of my own.

Curious if anyone else does this too and if those one-liners are really better solutions or if it's just confirmation bias.

top 16 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml 37 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The usual tech support search:

  • First hit is a thread describing your exact problem, marked as [SOLVED]. Clicking it goes to a 404.

  • Second hit is a thread describing your exact problem that goes to an actual thread, but the message has been edited to just say "Solved" with no record of what was done.

  • Third hit is a thread describing almost your exact problem, with the first response calling the poster a noob for asking and then 15 pages of arguments.

  • Fourth hit is a thread describing something in the same general area as your problem, which you try anyway and makes the thing you're trying to fix break in a different way, but it's progress at least.

  • Actual solution is somewhere between the 5th and 8th hit, or you give up and come back to it in about a week and solve it instantly without trying for some fucking reason.

So to answer the question, I can usually tell I'm getting close to the solution when I say "Oh for fuck's sake" as I'm closing tabs lol.

[–] seralth@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

I love to go with just rip out what ever is broken never look at it again and till eventually forgetting something was broken reinstalling what ever I ripped out only for everything to work again

Despite trying to reinstall things like 3 times before.

The key is you HAVE to forget about the problem or it knows your trying to trick it and it breaks it self again!

[–] Dotcom@lemmy.ml 37 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

You’re seeing occam's razor at work

[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 16 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

The more experience you have, the more BS your able to smell. Sometimes I marvel at how succinct other people can be fixing an issue with amazing docs. Compared to my old "wizard spell" shenanigans that solve the issue, but only on a Tuesday, full moon, goats, etc....

Its hard to solve issues, even harder to keep the solution working after a certain amount of time.

[–] Thorned_Rose@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Drives me nuts computer illiterate family members praising me for fixing the most basic, basic shit for them. They think its because I have lots of experience. But no, its because I learned the absolute basics of computer literacy and the experience I now have is grounded in that. I don't want praise for "working magic", I want people to fucking spend a small amount of their time learning the most BASIC of IT skills so I don't have to waste my time fixing shit you should know.

Sorry, my frustration might be showing just a little.

[–] miked@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 days ago

I've worked many years in IT support. They computer-illiterate people are everywhere.

[–] Broadfern@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Tech illiteracy is 90% of why we have work.

Doing it for free sucks though.

[–] Thorned_Rose@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 days ago

My spouse is a tech and tells me he has all the patience for stupidity because he gets paid for it. Once upon a time, I was going to go into IT but turns out that no amount of money was worth it for me because my tolerance for stupidity and willful ignorance is next to zero.

TBF, I still smile and tell family members it's all good, no problem to fix and then vent my inward seething later on to my spouse 😅

[–] slacktoid@lemmy.ml 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Treat the response like you would of an LLM, it needs to make sense to you, you need to make sure they aren't messing with you or have given you a fix that only works in their case. Usually the best fixes are the simple ones. And it seems like even with the longer ones you're able to figure out your simple fixes which is awesome!

[–] GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org 12 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Kind of funny how quickly we've flipped from "you should treat LLM output like advice from a random stranger" to "you should treat advice from a random stranger like LLM output".

Either way, it's the right idea. If you can't understand what you're doing but you do it anyway, you're going to create all kinds of problems for yourself.

[–] slacktoid@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 days ago

Lolol yes, it's a weird straight circle indeed.

However applying those fixes and then learning to fix it is a great way to learn how to troubleshoot and unb0rk your system.

[–] Mordikan@kbin.earth 3 points 2 days ago

In a round about way, that does fix the problem you have, though. Just randomly changing things or installing/uninstalling packages until the whole OS is borked and you have to reinstall thereby clearing the problem.

Doesn't teach how to fix the problem, but at least they'll get real proficient with setting up new system partitions.

[–] MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 2 days ago

The difference between workable and non-workable usually boils down to whether I can understand each step and how they arrived at their solution(that is, can I fix my own fuck-up if I miss a step or impliment it wrong for my own situation), which I will know pretty quickly. That said, with my limitted knowlege, I can still spot the 50% that have no chance in hell of working pretty quickly.

OTOH, if a solution is succinct, upvoted, and still looks wrong, I'm at least going to look into the problem further with that as a reference point before I write it off completely.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I think the same theory works for everything- including generic replies to comments on Lemmy.

[–] rollmagma@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

I sense this^ reply is crap.

[–] caseyweederman@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago

The poster's avatar is a drawing of a mouse: absolute fact