5 ms·

I've been logging each install as a markdown document with directions, and manually symlinking my dotfiles, but tiny scripts that do both are a great idea!

mongol 6y ago
Yes, as soon as I have installed a program which I like and think is a "keeper", I write my setuplet script, usually by copying and pasting from the bash history.
- iib 6y ago
  I am not an expert in Ansible, or any other software of the kind, but I think this is one of the easier use-cases of such a program. I wrote an ansible script to compile emacs from source, after some initial configuration, and it serves me pretty well.
  - mongol 6y ago
    I started with Ansible for automation, and still use it, but have abandoned it for setting up my personal environment. I still use it to set up services, such as sshd, webserver, printer, samba, smartd etc. I found it was more cumbersome for personal environment setup than my script method. My method of re-initializing my environment rests on three pillars: Ansible, for server/OS setup. Things run by init/systemd, involving anything outside of $HOME basically Backup, using borgmatic. I use this to restore most things in $HOME, except random dotfiles. My documents, my checked out git repos, etc. Script "setuplets". These I run on demand, to set up my environment piece by piece. Perhaps I do not want to restore my programming environment just because I want to have my custom prompt on a host, for example. Finding the balance between these have been difficult. What bootstraps what, and especially, how to handle credentials. My backup is encrypted, but how would I make sure I had the keys to restore it? I could restore it from my pass password store, but how would I get the gnupg keys in place first? I have not solved this completely satisfactorily yet
    - iib 6y ago
      I am you in the past then, I am still trying to find the balance. Thank you for the insights!
mattalbie 6y ago
I do this but include the symlink command in the document. That way all the links become one copy and paste.
- smichel17 6y ago
  May I recommend Makefiles? Nothing fancy, just a bunch of .PHONY targets. It's a converient way to bundle a bunch of scripts (or single arcane commands) into one file, with autocompletion.
  - mattalbie 6y ago
    That’s a good idea. Thanks!

mongol 6y ago

Yes, as soon as I have installed a program which I like and think is a "keeper", I write my setuplet script, usually by copying and pasting from the bash history.

iib 6y ago
I am not an expert in Ansible, or any other software of the kind, but I think this is one of the easier use-cases of such a program. I wrote an ansible script to compile emacs from source, after some initial configuration, and it serves me pretty well.
- mongol 6y ago
  I started with Ansible for automation, and still use it, but have abandoned it for setting up my personal environment. I still use it to set up services, such as sshd, webserver, printer, samba, smartd etc. I found it was more cumbersome for personal environment setup than my script method. My method of re-initializing my environment rests on three pillars: Ansible, for server/OS setup. Things run by init/systemd, involving anything outside of $HOME basically Backup, using borgmatic. I use this to restore most things in $HOME, except random dotfiles. My documents, my checked out git repos, etc. Script "setuplets". These I run on demand, to set up my environment piece by piece. Perhaps I do not want to restore my programming environment just because I want to have my custom prompt on a host, for example. Finding the balance between these have been difficult. What bootstraps what, and especially, how to handle credentials. My backup is encrypted, but how would I make sure I had the keys to restore it? I could restore it from my pass password store, but how would I get the gnupg keys in place first? I have not solved this completely satisfactorily yet
  - iib 6y ago
    I am you in the past then, I am still trying to find the balance. Thank you for the insights!

mattalbie 6y ago

I do this but include the symlink command in the document. That way all the links become one copy and paste.

smichel17 6y ago
May I recommend Makefiles? Nothing fancy, just a bunch of .PHONY targets. It's a converient way to bundle a bunch of scripts (or single arcane commands) into one file, with autocompletion.
- mattalbie 6y ago
  That’s a good idea. Thanks!