9 ms·

Ask HN: What do you use to manage dotfiles?

91 points by polm23 11y ago

vok5 11y ago
I have everything in ~/dotfiles which is a git repository here: https://github.com/dmarcoux/dotfiles https://github.com/dmarcoux/dotfiles. Basically, I use GNU Stow to symlink what I need. I have master which contains common config and one branch per computer. Everything is explained in the README, in more details if you want do know more. It's not perfect yet, I still have some small irritants, but I'm quite happy with this setup.
celadevra_ 11y ago
Emacs Org-mode's org-babel functionality. I have a few org-mode files storing all the dotfiles, put under version control. I can update and deploy them from within Emacs.
- hellofunk 11y ago
  fascinating. never heard of doing something like this, though i use emacs all day long (but not org mode -- didn't even know org mode could do this).
  - stevekemp 11y ago
    You might enjoy this then: https://github.com/skx/dotfiles/tree/master/.emacs.d https://github.com/skx/dotfiles/tree/master/.emacs.d In there you'll find ~/.emacs/init.el which parses ~/.emacs/init.md which is a markdown file containing both documentation and executable Lisp. There are other files in separate directories/packages, but I like the idea of placing everything in one readable file: https://github.com/skx/dotfiles/blob/master/.emacs.d/init.md https://github.com/skx/dotfiles/blob/master/.emacs.d/init.md
- profsnuggles 11y ago
  This is the most interesting system I've heard about for dotfiles. How do you organize the org files? Having a single org file with all my dotfiles in it could be interesting but probably unwieldy. It could be interesting to use code block expansion for keeping secrets out of the dotfile source. I keep my emacs init in org and I can't believe I've never thought of this.
- mih 11y ago
  Interesting approach! Think you can provide us with a small working example, especially the 'deploy' part?
  - profsnuggles 11y ago
    This is what I came up with over lunch. I'm going to try keeping all my dotfiles in one org file. I have an init hook that runs org-bable-tangle to re-export all the dotfiles after saving. ** Meta If you place the following code into your emacs init when saving the ~/.dotfiles.org file the dotfiles will all be exported. #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :tangle yes (defun dotfiles-hook () "If the current buffer is '~/.dotfiles.org' the code-blocks are tangled." (when (equal (buffer-file-name) (expand-file-name (concat (getenv "HOME") "/.dotfiles.org"))) (org-babel-tangle))) (add-hook 'after-save-hook 'dotfiles-hook) #+END_SRC ** bashrc #+BEGIN_SRC conf :tangle ~/.bashrc export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH #+END_SRC ** tmux #+BEGIN_SRC conf :tangle ~/.tmux.conf unbind C-b set -g prefix C-t bind C-t send-prefix #+END_SRC
    - mih 11y ago
      Thanks. Upvoted your solution, but I see some problems with this approach for my workflow: 1. I run emacs-server, so the init file is run only during restarts OR when I manually load it from emacsclient. 2. Re-exporting all dotfiles seems rather redundant. I prefer to selectively export individual dotfiles only when I have made changes to it. That's why I was interested in the 'deploy' part. I am not familiar enough with Babel, but it definitely seems to offer a more centralized way of managing my dotfiles. It's going into TODO.
yoshuaw 11y ago
git + symlinks https://github.com/yoshuawuyts/dotfiles https://github.com/yoshuawuyts/dotfiles
Kototama 11y ago
Git. Look for "homegit" on this page: http://chneukirchen.org/blog/archive/2013/01/a-grab-bag-of-git-tricks.html http://chneukirchen.org/blog/archive/2013/01/a-grab-bag-of-g...
mintplant 11y ago
GNU stow and git, per this tutorial: http://brandon.invergo.net/news/2012-05-26-using-gnu-stow-to-manage-your-dotfiles.html http://brandon.invergo.net/news/2012-05-26-using-gnu-stow-to...
- FireBeyond 11y ago
  I do love stow. My only hurdle (and it's not unique to stow is the chicken-and-egg of a 'setup.sh' that builds out my Mac the way I like (creating directories, installing packages etc), when my SSH keys are in stow's SSH folder.
charlieegan3 11y ago
I have a GitHub repo with a script that sets everything up. https://github.com/charlieegan3/dotfiles https://github.com/charlieegan3/dotfiles Seems to be quite a common pattern: https://github.com/search?o=desc&q=dotfiles&s=stars&type=Repositories https://github.com/search?o=desc&q=dotfiles&s=stars&type=Rep...
gtf21 11y ago
git + symlinks (https://github.com/gfarrell/dotfiles https://github.com/gfarrell/dotfiles). I use a makefile to set everything up
jamescun 11y ago
I see a trend of people maintaining a GitHub repo called `dotfiles` for their public configurations, myself included for zsh/tmux/vim/git. I haven't found a satisfactory way to sync secrets between machines other than via sneakernet. https://github.com/jamescun/dotfiles https://github.com/jamescun/dotfiles
- rjbwork 11y ago
  Have you tried syncthing perchance?
- jimmcslim 11y ago
  ansible-vault?
StreakyCobra 11y ago
I use: git init --bare $HOME/.myconf alias config='/usr/bin/git --git-dir=$HOME/.myconf/ --work-tree=$HOME' config config status.showUntrackedFiles no where my ~/.myconf directory is a git bare repository. Then any file within the home folder can be versioned with normal commands like: config status config add .vimrc config commit -m "Add vimrc" config add .config/redshift.conf config commit -m "Add redshift config" config push And so one… No extra tooling, no symlinks, files are tracked on a version control system, you can use different branches for different computers, you can replicate you configuration easily on new installation.
- durdn 11y ago
  Honestly this is genius! I hadn't thought of doing it like that, thank you! I had resorted to the usual .cfg folder and a helper script to link/update everything.
  - shabda 11y ago
    Could you explain how this works? Won't this be putting the .bashrc in $HOME/.myconf/.bashrc, which won't get picked up by bash? (And similar for other dotfiles)
    - nindalf 11y ago
      You could add a symlink in your $HOME folder
    - unwind 11y ago
      No, since the config alias runs git with the option "--work-tree=$HOME", which tells it that the working directory is your home directory root, i.e. where config files (used to) live. Anyway it's the proper root for config files, since if you use a .config directory (as seems to be the modern choice) that needs to live in your home directory of course.
- seliopou 11y ago
  To complete the description of the workflow (for others), you can replicate your home directory on a new machine using the following command: git clone --separate-git-dir=~/.myconf /path/to/repo ~ This is the best solution I've seen so far, and I may adopt it next time I get the itch to reconfigure my environment.
Fizzadar 11y ago
Git! https://github.com/Fizzadar/dotfiles https://github.com/Fizzadar/dotfiles
yuvadam 11y ago
dotfiles repo on Github + GNU Stow
knlje 11y ago
I have all my dotfiles in Dropbox and create symlinks to those. I require some 'quasi-secrets' in my configs and therefore I do not use Github.
berdario 11y ago
Ansible and my own python script. I use ansible, to template my gitconfig for different unix machines, and to install software that might be referenced in a dotfile https://github.com/berdario/dotfiles/blob/master/setup/roles/common/tasks/main.yml https://github.com/berdario/dotfiles/blob/master/setup/roles... https://github.com/berdario/dotfiles/blob/master/setup/feynman.yml https://github.com/berdario/dotfiles/blob/master/setup/feynm... (I have a separate branch for windows, but I found out that branches are not a good solution for this, since unlike feature branches, they'll never be truly merged... and unlike maintainance branches, they'll never stop being touched due to being out of maintanance) And I use my own script, to also support Windows (since ansible supports windows targets, but cannot be used from Windows)... I defined this table with the destination for the symlinks (or, in the case of .ghci the destination where to copy it, since symlinking it wouldn't work) https://github.com/berdario/dotfiles/blob/master/deploy.py#L91-L107 https://github.com/berdario/dotfiles/blob/master/deploy.py#L...
profsnuggles 11y ago
Git and Xstow. I have a small shell script that parses the xstow.ini file and creates all the directories I have listed under the [keep-dirs] directive in order to prevent it from deleting empty directories or replacing them with links. #!/usr/bin/env bash #Read the keep directories from xstow.ini ini="$(<'xstow.ini')" IFS=$'\n' && ini=( ${ini} ) ini=( ${ini[*]/\ =/=} ) # remove tabs before = ini=( ${ini[*]/=\ /=} ) # remove tabs after = ini=( ${ini[*]/\ =\ /=} ) # remove anything with a space around = #for each keep dir make sure it exists in the home dir for i in ${ini[@]} do if [[ $i =~ ^\ *dir ]] then eval $i mkdir $dir fi done
chrisseaton 11y ago
I try not to deviate from configuration default so that I don't need to manage any dot files.
AndrewVos 11y ago
Git repos + https://github.com/AndrewVos/slink https://github.com/AndrewVos/slink
arc0re 11y ago
Just git and Github.I have two folders, a .dotfiles (https://github.com/Arc0re/dotfiles https://github.com/Arc0re/dotfiles) that contains stuff like .emacs (for each OS), .bashrc/.zshrc, etc, which I symlink into my $HOME folder, and an elisp (https://github.com/Arc0re/mac-elisp https://github.com/Arc0re/mac-elisp) folder that contains my Emacs themes and plugins.
ejrgoiejgeoi 11y ago
mr + vcsh
ejrgoiejgeoi 11y ago
https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh + myrepos
gjulianm 11y ago
I think no one has mentioned rcm[1]. I just maintain a private git repository cloned in .dotfiles in each system I own, and use rcm to set up symbolic links properly. It works pretty well with directories and lets you choose between creating and populating it with symlinks, or just symlinking the whole directory. For example, I can symlink the full .vim directory (including git submodules) and only link some files inside the .ssh directory (link the config file to my .dotfiles repo but leave ssh keys alone). 1: https://robots.thoughtbot.com/rcm-for-rc-files-in-dotfiles-repos https://robots.thoughtbot.com/rcm-for-rc-files-in-dotfiles-r...
- gmmeyer 11y ago
  I've tried the other ones, but rcm is by far the most user friendly. I maintain a public and a private repo, and link them both into rcm. It works wonderfully.
Brajeshwar 11y ago
Heard good things about stow[1]. Haven't moved to it personally. I'm still stuck with manual symlinks. 1. https://www.gnu.org/software/stow/ https://www.gnu.org/software/stow/
georgewsinger 11y ago
https://github.com/georgewsinger/drop-dot/blob/master/README.md https://github.com/georgewsinger/drop-dot/blob/master/README...
girvo 11y ago
I don't use anything, to be honest. My good friend wrote and uses this however: https://github.com/ncraike/dither https://github.com/ncraike/dither
ossreality 11y ago
GNU Stow.
pedrospdc 11y ago
I use Homesick (https://github.com/technicalpickles/homesick https://github.com/technicalpickles/homesick). It's basically a dotfile manager. Symbolically links your stuff and runs scripts.
- kiesel 11y ago
  There's a fork called homeshick which is a plain-bash rewrite of homesick, so it doesn't have the ruby dependencies (for those who care about that). There might be few differences, though.
simi_ 11y ago
I keep all my dotfiles in a repo at ~/cfg, and have a script to perform tasks such as creating symlinks (e.g. ~/.emacs.el -> ~/cfg/emacs.el) and installing brew, antigen, etc. https://github.com/andreis/cfg https://github.com/andreis/cfg
- qznc 11y ago
  Same here https://github.com/qznc/dot https://github.com/qznc/dot
riquito 11y ago
I use a git repository, cloned in .myconfigs, with a script that create a symlink for any file in it (apart from .git and a couple more) https://github.com/riquito/configs https://github.com/riquito/configs The usage is git clone git@github.com:username/configs.git ~/.myconfigs cd ~/.myconfigs ./reinstall.sh Whenever I update the repository, maybe adding files, I run this in the other computers: cd ~/.myconfigs git pull --ff-only ./reinstall.sh which simply refresh the symlinks (I should remove stale symlinks now that I think about it, for removed configurations - never happened yet)
trengrj 11y ago
I have a little Makefile that symlinks everything (WIP) https://github.com/trengrj/dotfiles/blob/master/Makefile https://github.com/trengrj/dotfiles/blob/master/Makefile. I was previously using an automated Ruby script but found it inflexible and so have switched to a hand coded Makefile.
thekaleb 11y ago
My ~/.config directory is a git repository. I use some environment variables for utilities (like vim) that do not support the XDG spec.
s_kilk 11y ago
I just rebuild them by hand whenever I need to. It helps weed out the crap I've accumulated since the last machine rebuild, and makes sure I don't end up with an ever-growing hairball of dotfile madness.
- hellofunk 11y ago
  Agreed, backup is great, but only if you are backing up the right stuff. Sometimes, not backing something up is the right call.
0x142857 11y ago
nobody mentioned mackup? https://github.com/lra/mackup https://github.com/lra/mackup
0x142857 11y ago
nobody mentioned mackup? https://github.com/lra/mackup https://github.com/lra/mackup
bandrami 11y ago
tar, scp, and a VPS server I've had for longer than I can remember (it's still running Lenny, if that helps -- its OpenSSL was too old to be vulnerable to Heartbleed...). Every new install, I scp the tarball and extract it to my home directory.
YesThatTom2 11y ago
Obsessive Compulsive Directory http://wiki.eater.org/ocd http://wiki.eater.org/ocd It is a very simple system for keeping your dotfiles (and other files) in Git.
sgtpep 11y ago
Just git. cd ~ git init git remote add origin https://sgtpep@github.com/sgtpep/dotfiles.git git fetch git checkout -ft origin/master git config status.showUntrackedFiles no
srijanshetty 11y ago
I use vcsh and my, I even wrote a blog post about it: https://srijanshetty.in/technical/vcsh-mr-dotfiles-nirvana/ https://srijanshetty.in/technical/vcsh-mr-dotfiles-nirvana/
- ge0 11y ago
  Vcsh is great, surprised more people haven't heard of it or used it
- joshuata 11y ago
  Thank you so much for that post! I used it extensively when I set up vcsh and my. It took a few hours to get everything working, but the flexibility is unbelievable.
- tfn 11y ago
  Me too! Here's my blog-post about it: http://blog.tfnico.com/2014/03/managing-dot-files-with-vcsh-and-myrepos.html http://blog.tfnico.com/2014/03/managing-dot-files-with-vcsh-... I also interviewed the developer some years ago here: http://episodes.gitminutes.com/2013/06/gitminutes-13-richard-hartmann-on.html http://episodes.gitminutes.com/2013/06/gitminutes-13-richard...
hiyer 11y ago
https://github.com/lra/mackup https://github.com/lra/mackup + dropbox
tony 11y ago
I've probably spent hundreds of hours across all my configs over the years. In the old days, I'd rsync config files manually. Having frustrating times where I had to start everything over again. I have a lot to say on the subject. 1. Like other users here, git is a great way version your files. Not just that, it handles the issue you have with keeping the configs of various systems in sync. 1b. It doesn't have to be GitHub, but understand pushing to some remote gives you a backup, and a way to keep the latest configs you have in sync across multiple machines. 2. As a rule of thumb, the more POSIX compliant you are, the more cross-compatible your dot-configs will be. In my case, a great deal of my config works superbly across Ubuntu, FreeBSD and OS X with no modification whatsoever. 3. dotfiles (https://pypi.python.org/pypi/dotfiles https://pypi.python.org/pypi/dotfiles) is very helpful for building those initial symlinks. 4. Tangentially related is PATH's. Definitely be sure you're not accidentally appending multiple one's over again or omitting ones you want to search. For this, I recommend a pathappend function like one used at http://superuser.com/a/753948 http://superuser.com/a/753948. 5. As for managing vim / neovim, I'm coming to the realization the amount of time I've spent trying to configure completion / fix tiny things over the years probably makes me lose the net benefit vim has given me. Too bad there is no intellij for the CLI. In any event, I keep a vim config at https://github.com/tony/vim-config https://github.com/tony/vim-config which I document extensively. It has quite a lot of bells and whistles, but lazy loads and checks the system before installing certain plugins. It should work with neovim too. I keep my central dot-configs (along with its submodules) at https://github.com/tony/.dot-config https://github.com/tony/.dot-config. Its permissively licensed, so feel free to copy whatever you'd like.
jtfairbank 11y ago
https://github.com/majnemer/davesdots https://github.com/majnemer/davesdots
thiht 11y ago
cd ~ git init And add this to a .gitignore: # Ignore everything * # Except the dotfiles I explicitely want to share !.vimrc !.tmux.conf # ...
- skeoh 11y ago
  Fun fact! `cd` is equivalent to `cd ~` -- that is to say that the directory is optional and defaults to $HOME.
rcconf 11y ago
My entire machine is setup using Ansible, Homebrew and Homebrew Cask. It works pretty well. https://github.com/arianitu/setup-my-environment https://github.com/arianitu/setup-my-environment https://github.com/arianitu/dotfiles https://github.com/arianitu/dotfiles
RazorX 11y ago
I have a modular family of git repos with a 'dotfiles' one that pulls in the dependencies via bower and handles various bootstrapping and install steps. I also have one for my system config which works similarly. Vim, zsh, and tmux have their own standalone repos with one step install and updating scripts. They are written as normal plugins that load other plugins. I want to avoid vendor lock-in to something like chef for this. The idea is that everything is either defined in a tool-agnostic config file, and bootstrapping / installing / updating the dependencies is handled by simple shell scripts. Down the road I can always swap out the tooling (bower, config_curator, archutil) without updating code in my repos since state is defined as data. I don't like syslinks or putting ~/ under git as I don't want my working tree to affect my dotfiles until I run an "install" command. https://github.com/rxrc https://github.com/rxrc https://github.com/rxrc/dotfiles https://github.com/rxrc/dotfiles
lawpoop 11y ago
I put several of my dotfiles as gists on github's gist site, in addition to storing my home directory in a repo.
kiesel 11y ago
I use homeshick (https://github.com/andsens/homeshick https://github.com/andsens/homeshick), a - as I understand - rewrite of homesick (ruby) in bash. It needs to be sourced in .{bash,z}shrc and has features like tracking files from multiple repos (so called "castles"), auto-linking, auto-update every X days. We also use it in our dev team to share some config (and ~/bin) files, works fine.
oconnor663 11y ago
git and https://github.com/buildinspace/peru https://github.com/buildinspace/peru
peterbond9 11y ago
Payday loans are fleeting cash propels intended to get you through to the following payday. You round out an application giving data about yourself and your salary online for moment endorsement http://www.1monthloan-uk.co.uk/ http://www.1monthloan-uk.co.uk/. Once affirmed, a cash development is kept into your financial records the next day. The loan organization will charge installment from your financial records on your next payday.
ssh0 11y ago
I use bash based dotfiles manager "dot". * https://github.com/ssh0/dot https://github.com/ssh0/dot And I have dotfiles repository at GitHub. Some files are hosted in Dropbox (for API keys and etc.). my dotfiles: * https://github.com/ssh0/dotfiles https://github.com/ssh0/dotfiles
cJ0th 11y ago
I only semi-regularly tar my dotfiles and dotfolders and then move the archive to an external drive.
atmosx 11y ago
I a Syncthing directory called "Data/" where my personal files are. Then I have a script which creates symlinks between ~/.dir and Sync/Data/dir and that's it, simple but works.

91 points by polm23 11y ago

vok5 11y ago

I have everything in ~/dotfiles which is a git repository here: https://github.com/dmarcoux/dotfiles https://github.com/dmarcoux/dotfiles. Basically, I use GNU Stow to symlink what I need. I have master which contains common config and one branch per computer. Everything is explained in the README, in more details if you want do know more. It's not perfect yet, I still have some small irritants, but I'm quite happy with this setup.

celadevra_ 11y ago

Emacs Org-mode's org-babel functionality. I have a few org-mode files storing all the dotfiles, put under version control. I can update and deploy them from within Emacs.

hellofunk 11y ago
fascinating. never heard of doing something like this, though i use emacs all day long (but not org mode -- didn't even know org mode could do this).
- stevekemp 11y ago
  You might enjoy this then: https://github.com/skx/dotfiles/tree/master/.emacs.d https://github.com/skx/dotfiles/tree/master/.emacs.d In there you'll find ~/.emacs/init.el which parses ~/.emacs/init.md which is a markdown file containing both documentation and executable Lisp. There are other files in separate directories/packages, but I like the idea of placing everything in one readable file: https://github.com/skx/dotfiles/blob/master/.emacs.d/init.md https://github.com/skx/dotfiles/blob/master/.emacs.d/init.md
profsnuggles 11y ago
This is the most interesting system I've heard about for dotfiles. How do you organize the org files? Having a single org file with all my dotfiles in it could be interesting but probably unwieldy. It could be interesting to use code block expansion for keeping secrets out of the dotfile source. I keep my emacs init in org and I can't believe I've never thought of this.
mih 11y ago
Interesting approach! Think you can provide us with a small working example, especially the 'deploy' part?
- profsnuggles 11y ago
  This is what I came up with over lunch. I'm going to try keeping all my dotfiles in one org file. I have an init hook that runs org-bable-tangle to re-export all the dotfiles after saving. ** Meta If you place the following code into your emacs init when saving the ~/.dotfiles.org file the dotfiles will all be exported. #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :tangle yes (defun dotfiles-hook () "If the current buffer is '~/.dotfiles.org' the code-blocks are tangled." (when (equal (buffer-file-name) (expand-file-name (concat (getenv "HOME") "/.dotfiles.org"))) (org-babel-tangle))) (add-hook 'after-save-hook 'dotfiles-hook) #+END_SRC ** bashrc #+BEGIN_SRC conf :tangle ~/.bashrc export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH #+END_SRC ** tmux #+BEGIN_SRC conf :tangle ~/.tmux.conf unbind C-b set -g prefix C-t bind C-t send-prefix #+END_SRC
  - mih 11y ago
    Thanks. Upvoted your solution, but I see some problems with this approach for my workflow: 1. I run emacs-server, so the init file is run only during restarts OR when I manually load it from emacsclient. 2. Re-exporting all dotfiles seems rather redundant. I prefer to selectively export individual dotfiles only when I have made changes to it. That's why I was interested in the 'deploy' part. I am not familiar enough with Babel, but it definitely seems to offer a more centralized way of managing my dotfiles. It's going into TODO.

yoshuaw 11y ago

git + symlinks https://github.com/yoshuawuyts/dotfiles https://github.com/yoshuawuyts/dotfiles

Kototama 11y ago

Git. Look for "homegit" on this page: http://chneukirchen.org/blog/archive/2013/01/a-grab-bag-of-git-tricks.html http://chneukirchen.org/blog/archive/2013/01/a-grab-bag-of-g...

mintplant 11y ago

GNU stow and git, per this tutorial: http://brandon.invergo.net/news/2012-05-26-using-gnu-stow-to-manage-your-dotfiles.html http://brandon.invergo.net/news/2012-05-26-using-gnu-stow-to...

FireBeyond 11y ago
I do love stow. My only hurdle (and it's not unique to stow is the chicken-and-egg of a 'setup.sh' that builds out my Mac the way I like (creating directories, installing packages etc), when my SSH keys are in stow's SSH folder.

charlieegan3 11y ago

I have a GitHub repo with a script that sets everything up. https://github.com/charlieegan3/dotfiles https://github.com/charlieegan3/dotfiles Seems to be quite a common pattern: https://github.com/search?o=desc&q=dotfiles&s=stars&type=Repositories https://github.com/search?o=desc&q=dotfiles&s=stars&type=Rep...

gtf21 11y ago

git + symlinks (https://github.com/gfarrell/dotfiles https://github.com/gfarrell/dotfiles). I use a makefile to set everything up

jamescun 11y ago

I see a trend of people maintaining a GitHub repo called `dotfiles` for their public configurations, myself included for zsh/tmux/vim/git. I haven't found a satisfactory way to sync secrets between machines other than via sneakernet. https://github.com/jamescun/dotfiles https://github.com/jamescun/dotfiles

rjbwork 11y ago
Have you tried syncthing perchance?
jimmcslim 11y ago
ansible-vault?

StreakyCobra 11y ago

I use: git init --bare $HOME/.myconf alias config='/usr/bin/git --git-dir=$HOME/.myconf/ --work-tree=$HOME' config config status.showUntrackedFiles no where my ~/.myconf directory is a git bare repository. Then any file within the home folder can be versioned with normal commands like: config status config add .vimrc config commit -m "Add vimrc" config add .config/redshift.conf config commit -m "Add redshift config" config push And so one… No extra tooling, no symlinks, files are tracked on a version control system, you can use different branches for different computers, you can replicate you configuration easily on new installation.

durdn 11y ago
Honestly this is genius! I hadn't thought of doing it like that, thank you! I had resorted to the usual .cfg folder and a helper script to link/update everything.
- shabda 11y ago
  Could you explain how this works? Won't this be putting the .bashrc in $HOME/.myconf/.bashrc, which won't get picked up by bash? (And similar for other dotfiles)
  - nindalf 11y ago
    You could add a symlink in your $HOME folder
  - unwind 11y ago
    No, since the config alias runs git with the option "--work-tree=$HOME", which tells it that the working directory is your home directory root, i.e. where config files (used to) live. Anyway it's the proper root for config files, since if you use a .config directory (as seems to be the modern choice) that needs to live in your home directory of course.
seliopou 11y ago
To complete the description of the workflow (for others), you can replicate your home directory on a new machine using the following command: git clone --separate-git-dir=~/.myconf /path/to/repo ~ This is the best solution I've seen so far, and I may adopt it next time I get the itch to reconfigure my environment.

Fizzadar 11y ago

Git! https://github.com/Fizzadar/dotfiles https://github.com/Fizzadar/dotfiles

yuvadam 11y ago

dotfiles repo on Github + GNU Stow

knlje 11y ago

I have all my dotfiles in Dropbox and create symlinks to those. I require some 'quasi-secrets' in my configs and therefore I do not use Github.

berdario 11y ago

Ansible and my own python script. I use ansible, to template my gitconfig for different unix machines, and to install software that might be referenced in a dotfile https://github.com/berdario/dotfiles/blob/master/setup/roles/common/tasks/main.yml https://github.com/berdario/dotfiles/blob/master/setup/roles... https://github.com/berdario/dotfiles/blob/master/setup/feynman.yml https://github.com/berdario/dotfiles/blob/master/setup/feynm... (I have a separate branch for windows, but I found out that branches are not a good solution for this, since unlike feature branches, they'll never be truly merged... and unlike maintainance branches, they'll never stop being touched due to being out of maintanance) And I use my own script, to also support Windows (since ansible supports windows targets, but cannot be used from Windows)... I defined this table with the destination for the symlinks (or, in the case of .ghci the destination where to copy it, since symlinking it wouldn't work) https://github.com/berdario/dotfiles/blob/master/deploy.py#L91-L107 https://github.com/berdario/dotfiles/blob/master/deploy.py#L...

profsnuggles 11y ago

Git and Xstow. I have a small shell script that parses the xstow.ini file and creates all the directories I have listed under the [keep-dirs] directive in order to prevent it from deleting empty directories or replacing them with links. #!/usr/bin/env bash #Read the keep directories from xstow.ini ini="$(<'xstow.ini')" IFS=$'\n' && ini=( ${ini} ) ini=( ${ini[*]/\ =/=} ) # remove tabs before = ini=( ${ini[*]/=\ /=} ) # remove tabs after = ini=( ${ini[*]/\ =\ /=} ) # remove anything with a space around = #for each keep dir make sure it exists in the home dir for i in ${ini[@]} do if [[ $i =~ ^\ *dir ]] then eval $i mkdir $dir fi done

chrisseaton 11y ago

I try not to deviate from configuration default so that I don't need to manage any dot files.

AndrewVos 11y ago

Git repos + https://github.com/AndrewVos/slink https://github.com/AndrewVos/slink

arc0re 11y ago

Just git and Github.I have two folders, a .dotfiles (https://github.com/Arc0re/dotfiles https://github.com/Arc0re/dotfiles) that contains stuff like .emacs (for each OS), .bashrc/.zshrc, etc, which I symlink into my $HOME folder, and an elisp (https://github.com/Arc0re/mac-elisp https://github.com/Arc0re/mac-elisp) folder that contains my Emacs themes and plugins.

ejrgoiejgeoi 11y ago

mr + vcsh

ejrgoiejgeoi 11y ago

https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh + myrepos

gjulianm 11y ago

I think no one has mentioned rcm[1]. I just maintain a private git repository cloned in .dotfiles in each system I own, and use rcm to set up symbolic links properly. It works pretty well with directories and lets you choose between creating and populating it with symlinks, or just symlinking the whole directory. For example, I can symlink the full .vim directory (including git submodules) and only link some files inside the .ssh directory (link the config file to my .dotfiles repo but leave ssh keys alone). 1: https://robots.thoughtbot.com/rcm-for-rc-files-in-dotfiles-repos https://robots.thoughtbot.com/rcm-for-rc-files-in-dotfiles-r...

gmmeyer 11y ago
I've tried the other ones, but rcm is by far the most user friendly. I maintain a public and a private repo, and link them both into rcm. It works wonderfully.

Brajeshwar 11y ago

Heard good things about stow[1]. Haven't moved to it personally. I'm still stuck with manual symlinks. 1. https://www.gnu.org/software/stow/ https://www.gnu.org/software/stow/

georgewsinger 11y ago

https://github.com/georgewsinger/drop-dot/blob/master/README.md https://github.com/georgewsinger/drop-dot/blob/master/README...

girvo 11y ago

I don't use anything, to be honest. My good friend wrote and uses this however: https://github.com/ncraike/dither https://github.com/ncraike/dither

ossreality 11y ago

GNU Stow.

pedrospdc 11y ago

I use Homesick (https://github.com/technicalpickles/homesick https://github.com/technicalpickles/homesick). It's basically a dotfile manager. Symbolically links your stuff and runs scripts.

kiesel 11y ago
There's a fork called homeshick which is a plain-bash rewrite of homesick, so it doesn't have the ruby dependencies (for those who care about that). There might be few differences, though.

simi_ 11y ago

I keep all my dotfiles in a repo at ~/cfg, and have a script to perform tasks such as creating symlinks (e.g. ~/.emacs.el -> ~/cfg/emacs.el) and installing brew, antigen, etc. https://github.com/andreis/cfg https://github.com/andreis/cfg

qznc 11y ago
Same here https://github.com/qznc/dot https://github.com/qznc/dot

riquito 11y ago

I use a git repository, cloned in .myconfigs, with a script that create a symlink for any file in it (apart from .git and a couple more) https://github.com/riquito/configs https://github.com/riquito/configs The usage is git clone git@github.com:username/configs.git ~/.myconfigs cd ~/.myconfigs ./reinstall.sh Whenever I update the repository, maybe adding files, I run this in the other computers: cd ~/.myconfigs git pull --ff-only ./reinstall.sh which simply refresh the symlinks (I should remove stale symlinks now that I think about it, for removed configurations - never happened yet)

trengrj 11y ago

I have a little Makefile that symlinks everything (WIP) https://github.com/trengrj/dotfiles/blob/master/Makefile https://github.com/trengrj/dotfiles/blob/master/Makefile. I was previously using an automated Ruby script but found it inflexible and so have switched to a hand coded Makefile.

thekaleb 11y ago

My ~/.config directory is a git repository. I use some environment variables for utilities (like vim) that do not support the XDG spec.

s_kilk 11y ago

I just rebuild them by hand whenever I need to. It helps weed out the crap I've accumulated since the last machine rebuild, and makes sure I don't end up with an ever-growing hairball of dotfile madness.

hellofunk 11y ago
Agreed, backup is great, but only if you are backing up the right stuff. Sometimes, not backing something up is the right call.

0x142857 11y ago

nobody mentioned mackup? https://github.com/lra/mackup https://github.com/lra/mackup

0x142857 11y ago

nobody mentioned mackup? https://github.com/lra/mackup https://github.com/lra/mackup

bandrami 11y ago

tar, scp, and a VPS server I've had for longer than I can remember (it's still running Lenny, if that helps -- its OpenSSL was too old to be vulnerable to Heartbleed...). Every new install, I scp the tarball and extract it to my home directory.

YesThatTom2 11y ago

Obsessive Compulsive Directory http://wiki.eater.org/ocd http://wiki.eater.org/ocd It is a very simple system for keeping your dotfiles (and other files) in Git.

sgtpep 11y ago

Just git. cd ~ git init git remote add origin https://sgtpep@github.com/sgtpep/dotfiles.git git fetch git checkout -ft origin/master git config status.showUntrackedFiles no

srijanshetty 11y ago

I use vcsh and my, I even wrote a blog post about it: https://srijanshetty.in/technical/vcsh-mr-dotfiles-nirvana/ https://srijanshetty.in/technical/vcsh-mr-dotfiles-nirvana/

ge0 11y ago
Vcsh is great, surprised more people haven't heard of it or used it
joshuata 11y ago
Thank you so much for that post! I used it extensively when I set up vcsh and my. It took a few hours to get everything working, but the flexibility is unbelievable.
tfn 11y ago
Me too! Here's my blog-post about it: http://blog.tfnico.com/2014/03/managing-dot-files-with-vcsh-and-myrepos.html http://blog.tfnico.com/2014/03/managing-dot-files-with-vcsh-... I also interviewed the developer some years ago here: http://episodes.gitminutes.com/2013/06/gitminutes-13-richard-hartmann-on.html http://episodes.gitminutes.com/2013/06/gitminutes-13-richard...

hiyer 11y ago

https://github.com/lra/mackup https://github.com/lra/mackup + dropbox

tony 11y ago

I've probably spent hundreds of hours across all my configs over the years. In the old days, I'd rsync config files manually. Having frustrating times where I had to start everything over again. I have a lot to say on the subject. 1. Like other users here, git is a great way version your files. Not just that, it handles the issue you have with keeping the configs of various systems in sync. 1b. It doesn't have to be GitHub, but understand pushing to some remote gives you a backup, and a way to keep the latest configs you have in sync across multiple machines. 2. As a rule of thumb, the more POSIX compliant you are, the more cross-compatible your dot-configs will be. In my case, a great deal of my config works superbly across Ubuntu, FreeBSD and OS X with no modification whatsoever. 3. dotfiles (https://pypi.python.org/pypi/dotfiles https://pypi.python.org/pypi/dotfiles) is very helpful for building those initial symlinks. 4. Tangentially related is PATH's. Definitely be sure you're not accidentally appending multiple one's over again or omitting ones you want to search. For this, I recommend a pathappend function like one used at http://superuser.com/a/753948 http://superuser.com/a/753948. 5. As for managing vim / neovim, I'm coming to the realization the amount of time I've spent trying to configure completion / fix tiny things over the years probably makes me lose the net benefit vim has given me. Too bad there is no intellij for the CLI. In any event, I keep a vim config at https://github.com/tony/vim-config https://github.com/tony/vim-config which I document extensively. It has quite a lot of bells and whistles, but lazy loads and checks the system before installing certain plugins. It should work with neovim too. I keep my central dot-configs (along with its submodules) at https://github.com/tony/.dot-config https://github.com/tony/.dot-config. Its permissively licensed, so feel free to copy whatever you'd like.

jtfairbank 11y ago

https://github.com/majnemer/davesdots https://github.com/majnemer/davesdots

thiht 11y ago

cd ~ git init And add this to a .gitignore: # Ignore everything * # Except the dotfiles I explicitely want to share !.vimrc !.tmux.conf # ...

skeoh 11y ago
Fun fact! `cd` is equivalent to `cd ~` -- that is to say that the directory is optional and defaults to $HOME.

rcconf 11y ago

My entire machine is setup using Ansible, Homebrew and Homebrew Cask. It works pretty well. https://github.com/arianitu/setup-my-environment https://github.com/arianitu/setup-my-environment https://github.com/arianitu/dotfiles https://github.com/arianitu/dotfiles

RazorX 11y ago

I have a modular family of git repos with a 'dotfiles' one that pulls in the dependencies via bower and handles various bootstrapping and install steps. I also have one for my system config which works similarly. Vim, zsh, and tmux have their own standalone repos with one step install and updating scripts. They are written as normal plugins that load other plugins. I want to avoid vendor lock-in to something like chef for this. The idea is that everything is either defined in a tool-agnostic config file, and bootstrapping / installing / updating the dependencies is handled by simple shell scripts. Down the road I can always swap out the tooling (bower, config_curator, archutil) without updating code in my repos since state is defined as data. I don't like syslinks or putting ~/ under git as I don't want my working tree to affect my dotfiles until I run an "install" command. https://github.com/rxrc https://github.com/rxrc https://github.com/rxrc/dotfiles https://github.com/rxrc/dotfiles

lawpoop 11y ago

I put several of my dotfiles as gists on github's gist site, in addition to storing my home directory in a repo.

kiesel 11y ago

I use homeshick (https://github.com/andsens/homeshick https://github.com/andsens/homeshick), a - as I understand - rewrite of homesick (ruby) in bash. It needs to be sourced in .{bash,z}shrc and has features like tracking files from multiple repos (so called "castles"), auto-linking, auto-update every X days. We also use it in our dev team to share some config (and ~/bin) files, works fine.

oconnor663 11y ago

git and https://github.com/buildinspace/peru https://github.com/buildinspace/peru

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ssh0 11y ago

I use bash based dotfiles manager "dot". * https://github.com/ssh0/dot https://github.com/ssh0/dot And I have dotfiles repository at GitHub. Some files are hosted in Dropbox (for API keys and etc.). my dotfiles: * https://github.com/ssh0/dotfiles https://github.com/ssh0/dotfiles

cJ0th 11y ago

I only semi-regularly tar my dotfiles and dotfolders and then move the archive to an external drive.

atmosx 11y ago

I a Syncthing directory called "Data/" where my personal files are. Then I have a script which creates symlinks between ~/.dir and Sync/Data/dir and that's it, simple but works.