First clone this repo:
git clone git://github.com/joem/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles
Where possible, Vim plugins are installed using Vim's packages feature. In my
case, I'm installing them all into ~/.vim/pack/plugins/start. Check
vim/pack/plugins/README-VIM-PLUGINS.markdown
for the list of plugins and more details about how to install them. In general,
you can simply git clone any plugin you want into its own subdirectory in
~/.vim/pack/plugins/start. (Be sure to run :helptags ALL in Vim afterwards.)
You'll need to do this all manually yourself.
Create symlinks:
ln -s ~/.dotfiles/zshrc ~/.zshrc
ln -s ~/.dotfiles/zprofile ~/.zprofile
ln -s ~/.dotfiles/vimrc ~/.vimrc
ln -s ~/.dotfiles/gvimrc ~/.gvimrc
ln -s ~/.dotfiles/vim ~/.vim
ln -s ~/.dotfiles/gitconfig ~/.gitconfig
ln -s ~/.dotfiles/gitignore ~/.gitignore
ln -s ~/.dotfiles/nethackrc ~/.nethackrc
ln -s ~/.dotfiles/ackrc ~/.ackrc
I set the settings for Vim's backup and swap files such a way so that by
default, it puts them in . (the working directory). If you don't want them
cluttering up a particular working directory, you can make a .vimbackup
directory there and it'll be used. And if you don't want to deal with it on a
directory by directory basis, you can make a ~/.vimbackup which will then be
used. To make that directory, run:
mkdir ~/.vimbackup
You can also create the following symlinks for bash settings, though I don't use them anymore so they're likely out of date:
ln -s ~/.dotfiles/bashrc ~/.bashrc
ln -s ~/.dotfiles/bash_profile ~/.bash_profile
Also, if you want to speed up a terminal's start time, add a hushlogin file to your home dir to skip checking the last login:
touch ~/.hushlogin
The colorschemes I use in Vim also have Terminal colorschemes (among others). While there's not actually dotfiles, I'll put links here so you can install them if you want:
My preferences for Vim are stored in .dotfiles/vimrc and .dotfiles/gvimrc
respectively. All plugins and scripts are stored in the .dotfiles/vim
directory. As per above, these are all symlinked into my home directory.
Be sure to git clone the plugin into its own folder in
~/.vim/pack/plugins/start and be sure to update
~/.vim/pack/plugins/README-VIM-PLUGINS.markdown so you can keep track of what
came from where and what it is. All subdirectories in ~/.vim/pack/plugins/start
are untracked, so cloning things there is not a problem.
(Be sure to run :helptags ALL in Vim afterwards.)
If you want to install a non-git plugin and you don't want to check the plugin
itself into this dotfiles repo, then just put the plugin into its own directory
in ~/.vim/pack/plugins/start and write a note in
~/.vim/pack/plugins/README-VIM-PLUGINS.markdown.
(Be sure to run :helptags ALL in Vim afterwards.)
To update, cd into the plugin's directory and then git pull. If you'd
prefer to see what's going to change before doing the pull, use git fetch && git log ..origin/master, and after you're happy, you can then do git pull to
make the update happen.
(Be sure to run :helptags ALL in Vim afterwards.)
Simply replace the file(s) or directory with the newer version.
(Be sure to run :helptags ALL in Vim afterwards.)
Easy... Just delete the plugin's directory from the appropriate bundly folder,
and you're done. You might want to note it in
~/.vim/pack/plugins/README-VIM-PLUGINS.markdown too.
I use homebrew to install some programs. Go to that page and install it using their instructions, as it is fairly simple. (I'm not super happy with how it's changed over the years, so I'm using it less and less these days, and considering looking into macports.)
I use rbenv/ruby-build (installed via homebrew) to manage different ruby environments. The configuration for this is already in the appropriate dotfiles here.
I switched computers recently (March 2021) and decided it was a good time to re-evaluate my configs. This caused me to cut out A LOT of stuff, and I tried to credit/explain as much stuff that was left as possible that I had forgotten to credit/explain the first time around. I also switched to using Zsh instead of Bash for my terminal, so my Bash configs are no longer maintained or used, just included for historical purposes (or if I ever switch back). Being new to Zsh, my Zsh config may be somewhat rough and messy so far, but it seems to be working well for me. (And I really like not relying on any zsh plugins or frameworks!)
I realized that I had commited many plugins in the past to my dotfiles repo which not only meant my repo's git history was much bigger and messier than it needed to be, but also I was unsure of the legality/properness of having other people's repos checked into mine. Because of this, and because of the vast changes I had made to my own configs, I decided to start fresh with a new repo, which is this very repo.
When I decided to put my repo on GitHub, I wanted to clean it up. While my .dotfiles directory was originally already pretty close to how it was when I commited it, I ended up making everything fit even more closely with Drew Neil's dotfiles repo (including borrowing this README almost verbatim), since his was a nice example. After a while, though, I dropped the submodule feature for vim bundles. It always felt weird to me, I could never remember the proper way to update them, and I'd mess some things up from time to time. Sure my current method isn't as automated, but I have a lot fewer plugins (and plan to keep it that way!), so it's all good for me. As of Vim 8, I stopped using the Pathogen/bundles method of plugin loading in Vim, and started using Vim's built in packages (which is pleasantly similar to Pathogen).
Like most good vimrc's/bashrc's, mine are cobbled together from bits and pieces I've found all over, with a smattering of my own stuff shoved in between. Whenever I felt something was particularly awesome, or if I felt I may need to reference it again one day, I've tried to add credits and/or links in the dotfiles themselves.