[Feature Request] Track original path instead of assuming ~

[abloom]

I would like to track files like ~/.ssh/config but Briefcase ignores the path and assumes everything is directly in the users home directory.

[jim]

I'll have to think about how to implement this. Right now Briefcase just assumes that anything in the dotfiles directory will be symlinked to from the root of the user's home directory. To handle files at arbitrary paths, we'd have to store some metadata about each file in another location.

[abloom]

why not just store them in your dotfile dir with relative paths?

~/.ssh/known_hosts -> ~/.dotfiles/ssh/known_hosts

[ixti]

👍 But I would like to propose not to change initial path, just copy it "under":

~/.ssh/known_hosts -> ~/.dotfiles/.ssh/known_hosts

[RadicalZephyr]

👍 I just tried to put my .ssh/config file into briefcase and was surprised at the results...

[JDFagan]

Relative paths are important I believe too to prevent name collisions for similarly named files (e.g., .ssh/config vs .aws/config). Seems like just keeping paths relative is good solution as mentioned above. Also, if one tries to go outside their home directory, then I guess could have special name like /foo/bar/.somedotfile -> ~/.dotfiles/root/foo/bar/somedotfile.