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Dotfiles feel too personal to share

hamatti.org

71–80 of 153 posts

Re: Dotfiles feel too personal to share

#71
post #59

Installing a (read: many) custom vim plugins and color scheme and screen version and etc… stops being fun about the third time you have to log into a nameless server. That being said, there are some settings that I absolutely cannot live without; `j=gj` being a good example in vim. IMO your dot files are only useful to share if they are usable with the default software of the place you’ve shared them to. Otherwise th…

I honestly just can't vibe with the "don't customize because you'll log into other servers" thing. To me it feels like getting told to not put nice shelves in my home because other buildings don't have them.

It's also super weird when people say this and then switch to another editor, then switch to something like vscode, which ignores the fact that using a souped-up local Vim and a minimal remote one is the same situation... you're getting a different experience local and remote.

Re: Dotfiles feel too personal to share

#72
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly just can't vibe with the "don't customize because you'll log into other servers" thing. To me it feels like getting told to not put nice shelves in my home because other buildings don't have them.

It completely depends on your work environment. My experience has been doing a lot of admin work and working with distributed databases. I probably spend a third of my day in servers that are not mine. So for me it just doesn’t make sense to make a lot of configuration changes, especially changes that will end up in my muscle memory. Now my personal computer does have much nicer color schemes and a few plugins for co…

> Configuring it is starting to get old

That's exactly the opposite of my experience. Since all my dotfiles are in Github, configuring new system is just a git clone and copying a few files around. I don't even use any config manager, since I rarely get new computers. Takes a few minutes max per machine (plus maybe package installs like zsh if it's not there already).

Re: Dotfiles feel too personal to share

#73
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It completely depends on your work environment. My experience has been doing a lot of admin work and working with distributed databases. I probably spend a third of my day in servers that are not mine. So for me it just doesn’t make sense to make a lot of configuration changes, especially changes that will end up in my muscle memory. Now my personal computer does have much nicer color schemes and a few plugins for co…

Seems like a great opportunity to learn a bit about automating this set up. Really not hard to upload a .vim directory on a remote server for example.

Nah. Other people need to use them too. You just don't do that kind of stuff managing a fleet of servers. Keep it standard. Automation is yet another thing to manage and maintain. I keep all of my servers completely standard.

Re: Dotfiles feel too personal to share

#74

Installing a (read: many) custom vim plugins and color scheme and screen version and etc… stops being fun about the third time you have to log into a nameless server. That being said, there are some settings that I absolutely cannot live without; `j=gj` being a good example in vim. IMO your dot files are only useful to share if they are usable with the default software of the place you’ve shared them to. Otherwise th…

This is the main reason that, even though I know I'd enjoy zsh, I stubbornly stick with bash. It's because I know that I will be extra frustrated when I have to log into any of the number of machines that I have to do real work on that don't have it already set up.

That’s like saying: “This is the main reason that, even though I know I’d enjoy a nice car, I stubbornly stick with a run-down PT Cruiser without radio and air conditioning. It’s because I know that I will be extra frustrated when I have to take an Uber.”

I personally use zsh and do not want to miss it on my own machines. I however do log in onto machines that sometimes do not even have bash (yeah it’s rare nowadays, but it exists), and I adapt just fine. It’s not super pleasant, but not using zsh on my machines would be less pleasant.

Re: Dotfiles feel too personal to share

#75
I keep my DotFiles on my GitHub not without its embarrassments, this will help me backup and restore my tools and workflows on systems anywhere I want it to.

https://github.com/guilt/DotFiles

There's no knowledge shared here, just my own setup which can be barebones git cloned. Planning to add a curlbash installer here to help me set it up with a oneliner.

Re: Dotfiles feel too personal to share

#76
post #59

Installing a (read: many) custom vim plugins and color scheme and screen version and etc… stops being fun about the third time you have to log into a nameless server. That being said, there are some settings that I absolutely cannot live without; `j=gj` being a good example in vim. IMO your dot files are only useful to share if they are usable with the default software of the place you’ve shared them to. Otherwise th…

I honestly just can't vibe with the "don't customize because you'll log into other servers" thing. To me it feels like getting told to not put nice shelves in my home because other buildings don't have them.

Also, if you have useful nice shelves that make your fridge aka postgres run better, why shouldn't we work on putting that on servers to make all fridges run better? Also, having a comparable and shared admin experience is a big deal in a team.

Like sure, if you need to quibble about red or yellow prompts, eh. But if there is a good log colorizer or analyzer that makes an expert better at handling the system, or some aliases that make a system easier to manage - I want this deployed for _all_ admins on _all_ relevant systems.

And sure, all code running on a server is a security topic. But then let's figure out a way to run your favorite tools through the software security pipeline and then deploy it to systems. Sure, I dislike installing the latest js-based npm fad on a database for a minor advantage, but if there is some well-aged tool from the postgres space... I'd probably rather work to have it.

Re: Dotfiles feel too personal to share

#77

I'll never understand people not wanting to share their dots. Obviously you have to have a way to not share the private stuff of which there are many simple solutions, but I've learned so much from reading other peoples. To each their own, of course.

I don't even know what the author means here. I put them public on GitHub, because I can clone them from anywhere and have my config on any machine. The approximate number of people, who read them and see what I did, is 0. I just "share" them for public and free backup.

Someone thinking that bash aliases can be "intimate" is a next level of nerdyness for me. Reminds me of "gay code" scene from Silicon Valley.

Re: Dotfiles feel too personal to share

#78
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like a great opportunity to learn a bit about automating this set up. Really not hard to upload a .vim directory on a remote server for example.

Nah. Other people need to use them too. You just don't do that kind of stuff managing a fleet of servers. Keep it standard. Automation is yet another thing to manage and maintain. I keep all of my servers completely standard.

Surely you can put your own dotfiles into your own account on that machine, though, without impacting other people?

Re: Dotfiles feel too personal to share

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It completely depends on your work environment. My experience has been doing a lot of admin work and working with distributed databases. I probably spend a third of my day in servers that are not mine. So for me it just doesn’t make sense to make a lot of configuration changes, especially changes that will end up in my muscle memory. Now my personal computer does have much nicer color schemes and a few plugins for co…

> Configuring it is starting to get old That's exactly the opposite of my experience. Since all my dotfiles are in Github, configuring new system is just a git clone and copying a few files around. I don't even use any config manager, since I rarely get new computers. Takes a few minutes max per machine (plus maybe package installs like zsh if it's not there already).

The original statement was "vim plugins" SO yeah you can have your fancy alias or whatever but I'm with the GP that adding a bunch of cool plugins that I get used to and then... perpetually can't use because 40% of my time is spent on remote machines I don't have admin on... ehh.. quickly becomes not worth it.

It's like when I tried to get used to a DVORAK keyboard when I'd spend my weekdays in a school computer lab...

Re: Dotfiles feel too personal to share

#80
post #35
post #30

It's not a question of share everything or share nothing - with https://chezmoi.io you can choose exactly what you want to share: * You can keep your entire dotfile repo secret by using any private git hosting, including your own git hosting or a private GitHub repo. * You can keep individual files secret by using age or gpg encryption. If you repo is public, this only reveals the existence of the file, not its conte…

Chezmoi has been a blessing to use. It is one of the only tools I've used that had been able to survive me neclecting it for months and then getting back to it. I'd love a more interactive diff when my dotfiles have driften too much. But otherwise it is perfect for my needs.

https://www.chezmoi.io/reference/commands/merge-all/ might help you here - it opens your preferred merge tool for the dotfiles that have drifted.
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