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A Way to Manage Dotfiles

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Re: A Way to Manage Dotfiles

#21

Post by dannyobrien »

podiki wrote: post #5

Personally, I use git [0] along with GNU stow [1], combined with making the files directly from a literate Readme.org (e.g. [2]). I sync this repository between machines to update files, and when I make changes in the org-mode Readme file it automatically generates the new file. There are ways to pull in changes made to that file directly, but haven't needed to do that. My repo doesn't walk you through it completely,…

This is beautiful. Thank you for sharing it.

(I use GNU Stow too, though have not thought to create a literate version of my scripts and hacks.)

Re: A Way to Manage Dotfiles

#24

Post by CGamesPlay »

I never liked the git bare repository approach, because it's each to accidentally add files to it that you don't intend (if you forget to run git init in a new project directory; or if some code generator decides to "re-use" your existing git repository). I prefer the symlinks approach, but I never liked how all of the symlinks managers tend to leave broken symlinks all over the place.

That's why I created my own solution, which maintains a state file in the repo, so doing something like deleting a config file or switching a git branch doesn't result in a bunch of broken symlinks lying in your system.

https://github.com/cgamesplay/dfm

Re: A Way to Manage Dotfiles

#25

Post by arximboldi »

podiki wrote: post #5

Personally, I use git [0] along with GNU stow [1], combined with making the files directly from a literate Readme.org (e.g. [2]). I sync this repository between machines to update files, and when I make changes in the org-mode Readme file it automatically generates the new file. There are ways to pull in changes made to that file directly, but haven't needed to do that. My repo doesn't walk you through it completely,…

I use stow as well, highly recommended!

Re: A Way to Manage Dotfiles

#26

Post by podiki »

dannyobrien wrote: post #21
podiki wrote: post #5

Personally, I use git [0] along with GNU stow [1], combined with making the files directly from a literate Readme.org (e.g. [2]). I sync this repository between machines to update files, and when I make changes in the org-mode Readme file it automatically generates the new file. There are ways to pull in changes made to that file directly, but haven't needed to do that. My repo doesn't walk you through it completely,…

This is beautiful. Thank you for sharing it. (I use GNU Stow too, though have not thought to create a literate version of my scripts and hacks.)

Thank you! The move to literate files is pretty easy, and is nice to work with. Now I just gotta do the rest, with the real time being to document a bit better.

Re: A Way to Manage Dotfiles

#28

Post by twp »

tdfirth wrote: post #6

I've been using this bare repository approach for a while. I forget where I first saw it, I'm pretty sure it was on HN but it was not this project. I do like it, but I have a few minor issues. The first is that I have a habit of running `git add .` when I'm working on source code, and as a result I have accidentally added my entire home directory to the bare repo more than once... Easy enough to undo but a bit inconv…

Check out https://chezmoi.io/ - it solves all of these problems.

Re: A Way to Manage Dotfiles

#29

Post by crymer11 »

swalladge wrote: post #27

Any love for rcm [1]? I settled on this after trying many dotfiles systems - works for me with just the right feature set. I don't often see it mentioned on dotfiles discussions online though. [1]: https://github.com/thoughtbot/rcm

Huge fan of rcm! I’m in a very similar position - I’ve used many a different dotfile system, and after finally settling on rcm, I couldn’t want more from it.

Re: A Way to Manage Dotfiles

#30

Post by Barrin92 »

swalladge wrote: post #27

Any love for rcm [1]? I settled on this after trying many dotfiles systems - works for me with just the right feature set. I don't often see it mentioned on dotfiles discussions online though. [1]: https://github.com/thoughtbot/rcm

yep I love rcm. One of the features I use that most of the more barebones solutions don't have is the tag system so I can keep files for different machines in the same dotfile repo.
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