Ask HN: Dotfiles Management Tools?

#1

Post by mthwsjc_ » Mon, Apr 19, 2021, 8:16 PM UTC

My customized shell script isn't as robust as it should be and I don't want to reinvent an inferior version of what must surely already exist.

What tools would you recommend for managing dotfiles that are robust, doesn't have external dependencies, uses git and are idempotent?

I'd like something that manages directories of files (e.g. ~/.vim/ftplugin/) in sub-directories, as well as in $HOME. If the tool can deal with multiple systems (MacOS, CentOS, debian) then even better!

Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: Dotfiles Management Tools?

#2

Post by jmercouris » Mon, Apr 19, 2021, 8:45 PM UTC

Gnu Stow is something I've often heard referenced. Disclaimer: I have no experience using it.

Re: Ask HN: Dotfiles Management Tools?

#3

Post by mthwsjc_ » Mon, Apr 19, 2021, 8:54 PM UTC

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

[2] https://github.com/anishathalye/dotbot#plugins

Re: Ask HN: Dotfiles Management Tools?

#4

Post by knoebber » Mon, Apr 19, 2021, 8:55 PM UTC

Arch wiki has a nice list: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dotfiles#Tools

I made a dotfile management tool: 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/

Re: Ask HN: Dotfiles Management Tools?

#5

Post by andrewrothman » Mon, Apr 19, 2021, 9:45 PM UTC

jmercouris wrote: post #2

Gnu Stow is something I've often heard referenced. Disclaimer: I have no experience using it.

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.

Re: Ask HN: Dotfiles Management Tools?

#6

Post by FrenchyJiby » Mon, Apr 19, 2021, 9:49 PM UTC

jmercouris wrote: post #2

Gnu Stow is something I've often heard referenced. Disclaimer: I have no experience using it.

+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

Re: Ask HN: Dotfiles Management Tools?

#7

Post by markemer » Mon, Apr 19, 2021, 9:49 PM UTC

I’ve been using Chezmoi for a while now, I rather like it.

Re: Ask HN: Dotfiles Management Tools?

#8

Post by mgradowski » Mon, Apr 19, 2021, 9:51 PM UTC

jmercouris wrote: post #2

Gnu Stow is something I've often heard referenced. Disclaimer: I have no experience using it.

I use GNU Stow with a dotfiles git repo placed in $HOME. Works well.

Re: Ask HN: Dotfiles Management Tools?

#9

Post by seniorivn » Mon, Apr 19, 2021, 9:51 PM UTC

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

Re: Ask HN: Dotfiles Management Tools?

#10

Post by zests » Mon, Apr 19, 2021, 9:57 PM UTC

Here's a guide using a git bare repository: https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/dotfiles