You would say the "unless you're a coder" part is wrong, but otherwise it has the ring of truth based on my experience.
Configuration when not using UIs is hell because each application has its own format, settings file location (if it uses settings file at all -- you might be required to run a curses console program) and generally its own idiosyncracies. For a single logical concept (e.g. sound, ditto for display), a plethora of layers are involved and they all clash heavily, both in term of settings and abstractions.
Configuration when not using UIs is hell because each application has its own format, settings file location (if it uses settings file at all -- you might be required to run a curses console program) and generally its own idiosyncracies. For a single logical concept (e.g. sound, ditto for display), a plethora of layers are involved and they all clash heavily, both in term of settings and abstractions.