dotfiles-bootstrap

A shell script that turns a fresh Linux install into your personalized workstation. Fedora and KDE Plasma get first-class support, but Debian/Ubuntu and Arch are covered too. One command, zero manual steps.

What it does

• Installs a curated list of packages (KDE desktop apps, CLI utilities, dev tools)
• Deploys your dotfiles from a dotfiles/ directory into your home directory
• Enables sensible systemd services (firewall, NetworkManager)
• Backs up any existing config files before overwriting them
• Supports a dry-run mode so you can preview every action

Quick start

git clone https://github.com/cappy-dev/dotfiles-bootstrap.git
cd dotfiles-bootstrap
chmod +x bootstrap.sh
./bootstrap.sh

That runs all three phases: packages, config, and services.

Options

./bootstrap.sh --dry-run     # Print what would happen, do nothing
./bootstrap.sh --packages    # Only install packages
./bootstrap.sh --config      # Only deploy dotfiles
./bootstrap.sh --services    # Only enable systemd services
./bootstrap.sh --all         # Everything (default)
./bootstrap.sh --help        # Show usage info

How dotfiles work

Put your config files inside the dotfiles/ directory. The script mirrors that structure into your home directory.

Example layout:

dotfiles-bootstrap/
  bootstrap.sh
  dotfiles/
    .bashrc.custom
    .tmux.conf
    .vimrc
    .config/
      kitty/
        kitty.conf

The script copies dotfiles/.bashrc.custom to ~/.bashrc.custom, dotfiles/.config/kitty/kitty.conf to ~/.config/kitty/kitty.conf, and so on. Any file in dotfiles/ lands at the same relative path under your home directory.

Before overwriting an existing file, the script creates a backup with a timestamp suffix (e.g. .bashrc.custom.1700000000).

Bashrc hook

After deploying configs, the script appends a small hook to your ~/.bashrc that sources ~/.bashrc.custom if it exists. This keeps your custom aliases and functions separate from the distro defaults, so system updates never clobber your additions.

Packages included

The script installs roughly 40 packages per distro, organized into three groups:

Desktop (KDE Plasma focus): Konsole, Dolphin, Kate, Gwenview, Okular, Ark, Spectacle

CLI utilities: git, vim, neovim, tmux, fzf, ripgrep, fd, bat, eza, htop, btop, curl, wget, rsync

Development: gcc/g++, make, cmake, Python 3, Go, Rust

System: firewalld (Fedora) or ufw (Debian/Arch), NetworkManager

On Fedora, the script also enables the RPM Fusion free repository for multimedia codecs.

dry-run first

If you want to see exactly what the script would do on your machine without changing anything:

./bootstrap.sh --dry-run

Every action prints as a DRY line in yellow, and no commands actually execute. This is helpful for reviewing the package list or checking which config files would be deployed.

Adding your own packages

Open bootstrap.sh and find the array for your distro (e.g. FEDORA_PACKAGES or DEBIAN_PACKAGES). Add or remove package names from the list. The arrays are plain Bash arrays with one package per line for readability.

Adding your own dotfiles

1. Drop your config file into dotfiles/ at the correct relative path
2. Run ./bootstrap.sh --config to deploy it
3. Existing files get backed up automatically

Why not Ansible/Chef/Salt?

Those tools are great for managing fleets of servers. For setting up a personal laptop, a single shell script you can read in five minutes is hard to beat. No agents, no inventory files, no YAML. Just Bash.

License

MIT