Dotfiles -- configs

Configuration files scattered across various locations.

Advantages

• No third-party dependencies.
• Check modification timestamps during sync to back up files.
• Support deploying and syncing using copy, symlink, and exclude methods.
• ...

Limitations

• Currently only applicable to $HOME.

Usage

Use ./deploy.sh to install files from this repository into the specified locations under $HOME according to the rules in MANIFEST.linux. Of course, the script automatically backs up files to the backup directory before installing. You can choose to install files by copy or symlink; see MANIFEST.linux for details.

# The script provides several options.
./deploy.sh                   # Install them into your $HOME
./deploy.sh -d                # show sources and targets
./deploy.sh -h                # only offer help info
./deploy.sh -f                # force write (with backup)
./deploy.sh -m <MANIFEST>     # specify a manifest file
./deploy.sh -o <copy/symlink> # specify default operation: copy/symlink

Warning

./deploy.sh uses MANIFEST.linux by default, typically for a full deployment. If you only want to install part of it, refer to the files in the recipes directory I provided and use the -m option to specify a file.

Warning

./deploy.sh supports two deployment methods: copy or symlink. It parses the input MANIFEST file and uses the operation field of each valid entry to deploy the specified files or directories. This approach is flexible: you can control each file and directory individually, deploying some with copy and others with symlink. If you want to use a single deployment method for all entries, run the script with the -o copy or -o symlink option; this will override and ignore the operation field for all entries in the MANIFEST file.

Note

Tip: You can run ./deploy.sh -f to make a backup; it will save the previous state before you modify local files.

Packages

# [Arch Linux] Install packages from a list
# See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman/Tips_and_tricks#Install_packages_from_a_list
# NOTE: This will filter out external packages from the list that come from the AUR or are installed locally.
pacman -S --needed $(comm -12 <(pacman -Slq | sort) <(sort pkglist.txt))
# Then, install packages from the AUR using yay.
yay -S --needed - < pkglist-aur.txt

Troubleshooting

Unknown operation xxx. Skipping

Each valid MANIFEST entry must include the three fields: source_suffix, operation and target_suffix. Because the operation field sits between these two, the script will still parse that field even if you specify a default operation with the -o option. Therefore you must either set the operation field to "copy", "symlink" or "exclude", or leave it empty.

# For example
## Incorrent:
clangd | apps/coding | clangd/config.yaml |           .config  # Unknown operation clangd/config.yaml
clangd | apps/coding | clangd/config.yaml | ???     | .config  # Unknown operation ???.

## Corrent:
clangd | apps/coding | clangd/config.yaml | symlink | .config
clangd | apps/coding | clangd/config.yaml | symlink | .config
clangd | apps/coding | clangd/config.yaml |         | .config  # Use -o option

I used exclude, but it was still copied/symlinked ?

Warning

If you use exclude to skip specific paths, it must be placed above the copy/symlink entry with the same name (appname) otherwise it will not be excluded.

## Corrent:
btop         | apps/terminal/tui | btop/btop.log | exclude | .config # OK
btop         | apps/terminal/tui | btop/themes/  | exclude | .config # OK
btop         | apps/terminal/tui | btop/         | symlink | .config

## Incorrent:
btop         | apps/terminal/tui | btop/         | symlink | .config
btop         | apps/terminal/tui | btop/btop.log | exclude | .config  # still be copied/symlinked
btop         | apps/terminal/tui | btop/themes/  | exclude | .config  # still be copied/symlinked

## Incorrent:
btop         | apps/terminal/tui | btop/btop.log | exclude | .config  # OK
btop         | apps/terminal/tui | btop/         | symlink | .config
btop         | apps/terminal/tui | btop/themes/  | exclude | .config  # still be copied/symlinked

Sync with copying

For files or directories deployed via symlink, synchronization with the repository happens automatically. For those deployed via copy, if you want to sync locally modified files back to the repository, use the sync_copy.sh script. Its usage is very similar to deploy.sh, except the direction of deployment is reversed.

Migration

If you want to create your own repository to manage $HOME directory, download the two scripts (deploy.sh and sync_copy.sh) and the scripts/global.sh script. Using MANIFEST.linux as a reference to write your own manifest, and update the default MANIFEST variable in the scripts. To initialize the repository, run sync_copy.sh to copy the files or directories from your local $HOME that you want to manage into the repository. To manage files via symlinks or deploy your config files to other machines, run deploy.sh. In short: use sync_copy.sh for regular maintenance, and deploy.sh to deploy configurations to other machines.

References

• A script from rexim's dotfiles