`.zshrc` not loading?

[SturmB]

I've just installed Antidote on a headless Mini PC and I'm pretty sure I've set it up properly according to the instructions. However, my custom dotfiles (especially aliases) are not getting loaded despite being added to the end of the .zshrc file. It's kinda like .zshrc isn't even getting called when I SSH into the system. Let me explain.

Here's my current .zshrc after installing Antidote and adding two lines that call custom dotfiles. The first of those two added lines shouldn't do anything, since /etc/zsh/.zshrc.local doesn't exist. The second one is what triggers .aliases, which I can tell isn't getting called:

# Set up the prompt

autoload -Uz promptinit
promptinit
prompt adam1

setopt histignorealldups sharehistory

# Use emacs keybindings even if our EDITOR is set to vi
bindkey -e

# Keep 1000 lines of history within the shell and save it to ~/.zsh_history:
HISTSIZE=1000
SAVEHIST=1000
HISTFILE=~/.zsh_history

# Use modern completion system
autoload -Uz compinit
compinit

zstyle ':completion:*' auto-description 'specify: %d'
zstyle ':completion:*' completer _expand _complete _correct _approximate
zstyle ':completion:*' format 'Completing %d'
zstyle ':completion:*' group-name ''
zstyle ':completion:*' menu select=2
eval "$(dircolors -b)"
zstyle ':completion:*:default' list-colors ${(s.:.)LS_COLORS}
zstyle ':completion:*' list-colors ''
zstyle ':completion:*' list-prompt %SAt %p: Hit TAB for more, or the character to insert%s
zstyle ':completion:*' matcher-list '' 'm:{a-z}={A-Z}' 'm:{a-zA-Z}={A-Za-z}' 'r:|[._-]=* r:|=* l:|=*'
zstyle ':completion:*' menu select=long
zstyle ':completion:*' select-prompt %SScrolling active: current selection at %p%s
zstyle ':completion:*' use-compctl false
zstyle ':completion:*' verbose true

zstyle ':completion:*:*:kill:*:processes' list-colors '=(#b) #([0-9]#)*=0=01;31'
zstyle ':completion:*:kill:*' command 'ps -u $USER -o pid,%cpu,tty,cputime,cmd'

source ${ZDOTDIR:-~}/.antidote
antidote load

# user configs
[[ -r /etc/zsh/zshrc.local ]] && source /etc/zsh/zshrc.local
[[ -r "$HOME/.zshrc.local" ]] && source "$HOME/.zshrc.local"

In the .zshrc.local file:

# Load aliases if they exist.
[ -f "$HOME/.aliases" ] && source "$HOME/.aliases"

# Load SSH keys
if [ -z "$SSH_AUTH_SOCK" ] ; then
  eval `ssh-agent -s`
  ssh-add
fi

The ssh-agent is enough to tell whether or not .zshrc.local is being loaded, but I also have another method. My .aliases file is rather long, but here are the aliases in it that I'm using that also tell me whether or not .zshrc.local is being loaded:

# This set assumes lsd is installed: https://github.com/Peltoche/lsd
alias ll='lsd -la --group-directories-first'
alias l='lsd -l --group-directories-first'
alias la='lsd -lA --group-directories-first'

So, after SSH-ing into the server, this is what I am greeted with and the result of attempting to run the ll alias, which should give me a colorful LSD version of ls:

However, after sourcing .zshrc manually, everything is loaded, but I get some strange results:

1. I get an error message about 'menuselect' that appears to be a result of installing Antidote. Why?
2. ssh-agent is getting loaded, proving that .zshrc.local is getting called. Why wasn't it called when I logged in?
3. What is this strange prompt with a percent sign? It only appears once after sourcing .zshrc, but it shouldn't appear at all.
4. My ll alias is finally working, using LSD.
5. After running a command (or just pressing ), the correct prompt returns.

So there are multiple things wrong (error message, strange prompt, not calling .zshrc.local). What can I do about this?

[mattmc3]

Hey @SturmB - thanks for using antidote, and sorry you're having some trouble. The error you are getting (no such keymap) looks to me like you are using Oh-My-Zsh with antidote and it's not loaded properly. Are you using https://github.com/getantidote/use-omz, which is designed to help you use OMZ with antidote without these sorts of issues. Also, you gave me a lot, but you didn't provide your actual .zsh_plugins.txt file, which is where I think your issue lies. If you share that, I think we can resolve this very quick.

[SturmB]

That sounds great, @mattmc3, thank you. As it turns out, the .zsh_plugins.txt file is mostly identical to the one provided by your example zdotdir repo. It was placed in ~/.config/zsh. I think I only changed a couple of the plugins from the defaults and added the 'ohmyzsh' block at the end. It does look like use-omz is there.

#!/bin/zsh
#
# .zsh_plugins.txt - antidote plugins file
#

# Completions
mattmc3/ez-compinit
zsh-users/zsh-completions kind:fpath path:src
aloxaf/fzf-tab  # Remove if you don't use fzf

# Completion styles
belak/zsh-utils path:completion/functions kind:autoload post:compstyle_zshzoo_setup

# Keybindings
belak/zsh-utils path:editor

# History
belak/zsh-utils path:history

# Prompt
romkatv/powerlevel10k

# Utilities
zshzoo/macos conditional:is-macos
belak/zsh-utils path:utility
romkatv/zsh-bench kind:path
ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh path:plugins/extract

# Other Fish-like features
#zdharma-continuum/fast-syntax-highlighting  # Syntax highlighting
zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting           # Syntax highlighting
zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions               # Auto-suggestions
zsh-users/zsh-history-substring-search      # Up/Down to search history

# frameworks like oh-my-zsh are supported
getantidote/use-omz        # handle OMZ dependencies
ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh path:lib   # load OMZ's library
ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh path:plugins/colored-man-pages  # load OMZ plugins
ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh path:plugins/npm
ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh path:plugins/sudo
ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh path:plugins/git

[mattmc3]

Oh, I see. That .zsh_plugins.txt is only meant to show you examples of things antidote is capable of, not to be used wholesale for your own config. You should pull out any plugins you don't want/need/understand. For example, you are already defining your preferred history settings in your .zshrc, so there's not much reason to also include belak/zsh-utils path:history. Pick one or the other. Similarly, you define your own zstyles for completion in your .zshrc, but then you also load all of OMZ's zstyles via ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh path:lib. Again - pick one or the other. Much of antidote's examples are there to help get you started, not serve as a starter config. That's why you're having trouble - your .zshrc is conflicting with your plugin selection.

My recommendation:

1. First, you can fix your immediate problem by commenting out ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh path:lib. That's the line that's causing you the conflict.
2. Second, comment out anything in .zsh_plugins.txt that you don't need or don't understand and start small. Then add back plugins as you need them. Sometimes you want to manage a thing in your own .zshrc, so you don't need a plugin for that. Other times, you'd rather someone else manage the feature, so remove code from your .zshrc and let the plugin do it.

If you're looking for a good starter config, I do have one I will recommend as a good place to start: https://github.com/getantidote/zdotdir/blob/kickstart/.zsh_plugins.txt

[SturmB]

Thank you for your detailed answer, mattmc3; what you have said makes perfect sense. I'd just like to note that all the settings in .zshrc were autogenerated by Antidote or that example ZDOTDIR repo; With the exception of the #user configs section at the end, I didn't set anything there by hand.

Still, I followed your recommendation and commented out both belak/zsh-utils path:history and ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh path:lib. Logging out and back in again, I'm afraid my aliases still aren't working.

[SturmB]

I'm afraid things are still not working. I've taken my ~/.zshrc file down to the basics:

source ${ZDOTDIR:-~}/.antidote
antidote load

# user configs
[[ -r /etc/zsh/zshrc.local ]] && source /etc/zsh/zshrc.local
[[ -r "$HOME/.zshrc.local" ]] && source "$HOME/.zshrc.local"

Antidote is loading, but, for some reason, ~/.zshrc.local is not.

If I manually run source ~/.zshrc, then it'll go ahead and bring in ~/.zshrc.local and, subsequently, ~/.aliases. Why isn't ~/.zshrc loading upon login?

[mattmc3]

Without knowing what's in your ~/.zshrc.local or seeing more of your config (have you published your dotfiles anywhere?), I don't have much additional help to offer. I'm not seeing anything where antidote is misbehaving.

[SturmB]

My apologies, I should have posted those other two files.

.zshrc.local:

# Load aliases if they exist.
[ -f "$HOME/.aliases" ] && source "$HOME/.aliases"

# Load SSH keys
if [ -z "$SSH_AUTH_SOCK" ] ; then
  eval `ssh-agent -s`
  ssh-add
fi

.aliases:

alias pbcopy='xclip -selection clipboard'
alias pbpaste='xclip -selection clipboard -o'

if [ -x /usr/bin/dircolors ]; then
    test -r ~/.dircolors && eval "$(dircolors -b ~/.dircolors)" || eval "$(dircolors -b)"
    alias ls="ls --color=auto"

    alias grep="grep --color=auto"
    alias fgrep="fgrep --color=auto"
    alias egrep="egrep --color=auto"
fi

#alias ll="ls -alF"
#alias la="ls -A"
#alias l="ls -CF"

# Requires "Color LS": https://github.com/athityakumar/colorls
# which, in turn, requires Ruby.
#alias lc="colorls"

#alias l='lc -la --sd'
#alias ll='lc -l --sd'
#alias la='lc -lA --sd'

# For lsd, if installed manually into ~/bin/lsd, this will add it to the path
export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/bin/lsd"

# This set assumes lsd is installed: https://github.com/Peltoche/lsd
alias ll='lsd -la --group-directories-first'
alias l='lsd -l --group-directories-first'
alias la='lsd -lA --group-directories-first'

# Docker aliases
alias dc='docker compose'
alias dlogs='docker container logs -f $1'
alias ddn='dc down $1'
alias dup='dc up -d $1'

# Use Laragon's PHP
#alias php='php.exe'

alias alert='notify-send --urgency=low -i "$([ $? = 0 ] && echo terminal || echo error)" "$(history|tail -n1|sed -e '\''s/^\s*[0-9]\+\s*//;s/[;&|]\s*alert$//'\'')"'

vdiff () {
    if [ "${#}" -ne 2 ] ; then
        echo "vdiff requires two arguments"
        echo "  comparing dirs:  vdiff dir_a dir_b"
        echo "  comparing files: vdiff file_a file_b"
        return 1
    fi

    local left="${1}"
    local right="${2}"

    if [ -d "${left}" ] && [ -d "${right}" ]; then
        vim +"DirDiff ${left} ${right}"
    else
        vim -d "${left}" "${right}"
    fi
}

dtags () {
    local image="${1}"

    wget -q https://registry.hub.docker.com/v1/repositories/"${image}"/tags -O - \
        | tr -d '[]" ' | tr '}' '\n' | awk -F: '{print $3}'
}

alias dew="docker-compose exec web"

alias dpsql="docker-compose exec postgres psql"

alias drun='docker run --rm -it -v "${PWD}":/app'

alias rmpyc="find . -name '*.pyc' -exec rm -rf {} \;"

alias ymp3="youtube-dl --extract-audio --audio-format mp3"

alias octal="stat -c '%a %n'"

alias follow="namei -om"

alias diff="diff --color -u"

alias mklink=" . mklink.sh"

alias adb="~/dev/android/platform-tools/adb"

Admittedly, I need to revamp and pare down that .aliases file, as I don't even use many of those aliases anymore.

Anyway, what concerns me most is that ~/.zshrc doesn't appear to even be sourced upon login, because those aliases should be loaded with it, but they aren't.