4 ms·

I just make my home directory be a git repo directly. That's even simpler -- no symlinks. You have to get used to having a repo with many unchecked-in files, bu

I just make my home directory be a git repo directly. That's even simpler -- no symlinks. You have to get used to having a repo with many unchecked-in files, but it works well enough. I have a git alias or two to help. This has been a good solution for me for more than a decade across ~a dozen OS installations.

Arnavion 5y ago
I've seen a few people doing this, but I also frequently run `git clean -xffd` in my actual source code directories to clean them, so I'd be deathly scared of accidentally running it in the wrong directory and wiping out half my homedir.
- encryptluks2 5y ago
  Snapshots to the rescue
- Morphion 5y ago
  alias config="/usr/bin/git --git-dir=$HOME/.dotfiles/ --work-tree=$HOME -c status.showUntrackedFiles=no -c submodule.recurse=true -c alias.update="'"!bash '"$HOME"'/.config/dotfiles/update_dotfiles.sh"'
  - Arnavion 5y ago
    You misunderstand. I'm talking about intending to run `git clean -xffd` under `~/src/some-project` (a git repo for some code) but accidentally running it under some other directory, such that it ends up running against `~` Making aliases for working with `~`'s repo doesn't prevent that.
    - larschdk 5y ago
      Yes it does. I do the same, with an alias and have .git somewhere else not directly in $HOME, but pointing to it with --git-dir. If you run git in ~, it will not recognize it as a git repository or worktree. You can only modify the repo with the alias or by specifying --git-dir explicitly. These setup also prevents zsh/bash git prompt extensions from detecting git the the home folder repo, which can be confusing, I think.
      - Arnavion 5y ago
        Oh, I missed the `--git-dir` part. My bad.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
pixelmonkey 5y ago
I do the same. It may benefit you to add "*" to .gitignore, as I describe here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25564558 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25564558
- gbrown_ 5y ago
  This is exactly what I do too. No messing with magic aliases to tweak --git-dir and --work-tree, just vanilla git.
scottwernervt 5y ago
https://www.electricmonk.nl/log/2015/06/22/keep-your-home-dir-in-git-with-a-detached-working-directory/ https://www.electricmonk.nl/log/2015/06/22/keep-your-home-di... has been working nicely for me on multiple computers.
- 0xbadcafebee 5y ago
  ^ This is the best solution I've found (detached head). Add a single cron line to automatically commit and push changes and you get automatic backup of dotfile changes. The only thing missing now is for pass to handle files as secrets.
saagarjha 5y ago
Nested git repositories can cause problems which you may want to watch out for.

Arnavion 5y ago

I've seen a few people doing this, but I also frequently run `git clean -xffd` in my actual source code directories to clean them, so I'd be deathly scared of accidentally running it in the wrong directory and wiping out half my homedir.

encryptluks2 5y ago
Snapshots to the rescue
Morphion 5y ago
alias config="/usr/bin/git --git-dir=$HOME/.dotfiles/ --work-tree=$HOME -c status.showUntrackedFiles=no -c submodule.recurse=true -c alias.update="'"!bash '"$HOME"'/.config/dotfiles/update_dotfiles.sh"'
- Arnavion 5y ago
  You misunderstand. I'm talking about intending to run `git clean -xffd` under `~/src/some-project` (a git repo for some code) but accidentally running it under some other directory, such that it ends up running against `~` Making aliases for working with `~`'s repo doesn't prevent that.
  - larschdk 5y ago
    Yes it does. I do the same, with an alias and have .git somewhere else not directly in $HOME, but pointing to it with --git-dir. If you run git in ~, it will not recognize it as a git repository or worktree. You can only modify the repo with the alias or by specifying --git-dir explicitly. These setup also prevents zsh/bash git prompt extensions from detecting git the the home folder repo, which can be confusing, I think.
    - Arnavion 5y ago
      Oh, I missed the `--git-dir` part. My bad.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]

pixelmonkey 5y ago

I do the same. It may benefit you to add "*" to .gitignore, as I describe here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25564558 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25564558

gbrown_ 5y ago
This is exactly what I do too. No messing with magic aliases to tweak --git-dir and --work-tree, just vanilla git.

scottwernervt 5y ago

https://www.electricmonk.nl/log/2015/06/22/keep-your-home-dir-in-git-with-a-detached-working-directory/ https://www.electricmonk.nl/log/2015/06/22/keep-your-home-di... has been working nicely for me on multiple computers.

0xbadcafebee 5y ago
^ This is the best solution I've found (detached head). Add a single cron line to automatically commit and push changes and you get automatic backup of dotfile changes. The only thing missing now is for pass to handle files as secrets.

saagarjha 5y ago

Nested git repositories can cause problems which you may want to watch out for.