5 ms·

Ask HN: Dotfiles Management Tools?

• jmercouris 5y ago
  Gnu Stow is something I've often heard referenced. Disclaimer: I have no experience using it.
  • andrewrothman 5y ago
    I've been using GNU Stow (with Git) for the past month to sync some of my dotfiles between two laptops (Mac and Linux). It took 10 minutes to get comfortable with it and it works well for me.
  • FrenchyJiby 5y ago
    +1 For stow ("a symlink farm manager") Simple usecase: cd ~ mkdir -p dotfiles && cd dotfiles mkdir -p bash && cd bash touch .bashrc cd ~ stow bash # Deploys ~/.bashrc symlinked from ~/dotfiles/bash/ # More packages, version control: cd ~/dotfiles git init && git commit -am "Initial commit" mkdir -p ~/dotfiles/git/ touch ~/dotfiles/git/.gitconfig # deploy git package cd ~ && stow git # revert bash "package deployment" stow -D bash I've gone a bit overboard myself (many packages, litterate programming declaration of emacs config, Vagrant VM with Ansible deployment etc), see https://github.com/OverkillGuy/jibyconf https://github.com/OverkillGuy/jibyconf
  • mgradowski 5y ago
    I use GNU Stow with a dotfiles git repo placed in $HOME. Works well.
• mthwsjc_ 5y ago
  chezmoi [1] looks like a tool for power-users. I'll give it a try and see how it goes. It seems to be more capable (and more complex) than dotbot [2] [1] https://github.com/twpayne/chezmoi https://github.com/twpayne/chezmoi [2] https://github.com/anishathalye/dotbot#plugins https://github.com/anishathalye/dotbot#plugins
• knoebber 5y ago
  Arch wiki has a nice list: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dotfiles#Tools https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dotfiles#Tools I made a dotfile management tool: https://github.com/knoebber/dotfile https://github.com/knoebber/dotfile , but it's not based on git or designed for directories of files. I think Chezmoi would fit your usecase well: https://www.chezmoi.io/ https://www.chezmoi.io/
• markemer 5y ago
  I’ve been using Chezmoi for a while now, I rather like it.
• seniorivn 5y ago
  https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager is much more than that, but it can be easily used as a basic dotfiles manager the way you described it
• zests 5y ago
  Here's a guide using a git bare repository: https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/dotfiles https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/dotfiles
  • notJim 5y ago
    I've been using this (lightly) for a couple years, and I've been happy with it.
    • happyrock 5y ago
      Me too. It's good enough.
  • iib 5y ago
    I try to use Drew DeVault's method [1], which is similar, but it seems much more straightforward. It uses a regular git repository in $HOME, a .gitignore file that is just a `*` so that it ignores all files and you have to force add the files that you want. As a disclaimer I have to say I have never migrated my system to another one or even shared my config, so unforeseen problems may appear. [1] https://drewdevault.com/2019/12/30/dotfiles.html https://drewdevault.com/2019/12/30/dotfiles.html
    • wjertyj 5y ago
      I use this method as well, but instead of force adding files, I use an inverted .gitinore. * !/.bashrc !/.config/ !/.config/monitors.xml This lets me quickly quickly detect changes in my working dir while still explicitly adding each tracked file.
  • ISO-morphism 5y ago
    The one issue I've had with this is that ripgrep will use the gitignore so without an extra option most any search in any folder under $HOME will turn up empty
• vulcan01 5y ago
  Although I just use git (with symlinks from ~/.dotfiles to wherever the software is actually expecting the config), most people I know use https://yadm.io https://yadm.io instead.
• epakai 5y ago
  I use yadm (https://yadm.io/ https://yadm.io/), and like it for dealing with multiple systems because of it's alternates system (https://yadm.io/docs/alternates# https://yadm.io/docs/alternates#). It's git based, and works on various systems (your list is covered). edit: Note if you're on Debian stable, the current package is 1.x. At this point testing has moved on to 3.x. It's probably worth going straight to 3.x to avoid reworking alternates and dealing with other changes. The testing/unstable package is easy to backport (look up simple sid backport).
• qq4 5y ago
  Can't get much simpler than git and stow
• genpfault 5y ago
  Hardmode: INI canonicalization + some sort of per-section/key .gitignore for 'noisy' or machine-specific data.
• TheLocehiliosan 5y ago
  I’m biased, but would recommend trying yadm. https://yadm.io https://yadm.io I specifically have a design goal of very little external dependency. It only requires Git and Bash be present, so it is quite portable. Many people even use it on some network equipment. You can simply download the script if it isn’t packaged somewhere. It can easily handle directories of files, but also submodules. Many people add vim plugin Git repos directly as submodules. If you are familiar with Git, you’ll find yadm extremely easy to use. When you need them, more features are there to solve specific problems, like bootstrapping operations, encrypting private data, templating, or system dependent alternate files. On a new system you can quickly bootstrap your existing dotfiles repo using https://bootstrap.yadm.io https://bootstrap.yadm.io, without yadm installed yet. This is mostly useful if you’ve included yadm directly in you dotfiles (directly, or as a submodule, or as some installation during bootstrap).