coliru

A minimal, flexible, dotfile installer

Features

• Install dotfiles as copies and/or symlinks
• Manage differences between machines using tags
• Run custom scripts
• Install dotfiles on remote machines over SSH

Installation

Coliru binaries can be downloaded from the GitHub releases page.

Coliru can also be installed from source using Cargo:

cargo install --git https://github.com/ashermorgan/coliru

# To uninstall:
# cargo uninstall coliru

Usage

Dotfile metadata is stored in a manifest file as a series of steps that can be executed conditionally based on tag rules. To install dotfiles, pass the location of the manifest file and the desired tag rules:

coliru manifest.yml --tag-rules tag1 tag2,tag3 ^tag4

Some other helpful options include:

• --help, -h: Print full help information
• --list-tags, -l: List the tags in the manifest and quit without installing
• --dry-run, -n: Do a trial run without any permanent changes
• --host <HOST>: Install dotfiles on another machine over SSH
• --copy: Interpret link commands as copy commands

Manifest File

Manifests are defined using YAML as an array of steps that are executed to install the dotfiles, which are located in the same directory as the manifest. Each step may contain an array of copy, link, and/or run commands, in addition to an array of tags. Each command is run from the directory containing the manifest file, or relative to the ~/coliru directory when installing over SSH.

• The copy command copies a dotfile (src) to a destination (dst). Missing parent directories are created automatically.
• The link command links a dotfile (src) to a destination (dst) using symbolic links on Unix and hard links on Windows. Missing parent directories are created automatically and coliru will run copy commands in place of link commands when installing over SSH.
• The run command executes a script (src) from the command line, using sh on Unix and cmd on Windows, with an optional prefix (e.g. python3) or postfix (e.g. arg1 arg2 arg3) string. Inside postfix, $COLIRU_RULES will be expanded into a space-delimited list of the current tag rules. When installing over SSH, scripts are copied to the ~/.coliru directory on the remote machine before they are executed.

Example YAML manifest (see examples/basic/ for a complete example dotfile repository):

steps:
  - copy:
    - src: gitconfig
      dst: ~/.gitconfig
    tags: [ windows, linux, macos ]

  - link:
    - src: bashrc
      dst: ~/.bashrc
    - src: vimrc
      dst: ~/.vimrc # Will create symbolic links on Linux & MacOS
    run:
    - src: ./script.sh
      prefix: sh # unecessary on Unix if script.sh is executable
      postfix: arg1 $COLIRU_RULES
    tags: [ linux, macos ]

  - link:
    - src: vimrc
      dst: ~/_vimrc # Will create hard link on Windows
    run:
    - src: script.bat
      postfix: arg1 $COLIRU_RULES
    tags: [ windows ]

Tags and Tag Rules

Tags enable the installation of a subset of manifest steps based on a set of tag rules. Common tags include supported operating systems (e.g. linux, macos, and/or windows), types of machines (e.g. work, personal, server, etc), and whether the step requires elevated privileges (e.g. system vs user).

Tag rules are specified on the command line using the --tag-rules option. In order for the commands in a step to be executed, its tags must satisfy all of the tag rules. If no tags rules are provided, all manifest steps will be executed. Each tag rule contains a comma separated list of tags that can satisfy the rule. A leading caret (^) will negate the entire rule.

In other words, commas correspond to OR, carets to NOT, and the spaces between rules to AND. So --tag-rules A B,C ^D,E looks for steps with the tags A && (B || C) && !(D || E).

Development

Use Cargo to build, test, and run coliru:

cargo build
cargo test
cargo run -- --help

Some of coliru's integration and end-to-end tests interact with a test SSH server, which can be started with Docker Compose:

docker compose -f tests/server/compose.yml up