Linux .dotfiles, scripts, and configurations. This setup uses a bare repository to track linux .dotfiles and configuration files.
ℹ️ Personal Copy: If you wish to modify any of the base scripts, it is recommended to fork your own copy of this repo so you can make your own changes. There are plenty of options to override the default behavior, but if further customization is needed, then forking your own repo would be best.
~/.bashrc and ~/.vimrc as well as others if they are the same as what you already have. It is a good idea to backup any existing scripts you have before doing this process.
To setup on a new system, use the following commands. This creates an alias called githome which is used in place of the regular git program. This is done to allow automatically setting the git directory for a bare repository. A bare repsitory is used to avoid having a git path in your home directory which could lead toward accidental git commands run from your home directory. This new bare repository will be located at $HOME/.cfg. After cloning the repo, because this is a bare repository, a checkout is needed to update everything to the latest and then you must also set the upstream branch to track the origin:
git clone --bare git@github.com:raven42/dotfiles.git $HOME/.cfg
alias githome='git --git-dir=$HOME/.cfg --work-tree=$HOME'
echo ".cfg" >> .gitignore
githome config --local --add remote.origin.fetch "+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*"
githome fetch
githome branch --set-upstream-to origin/master
githome checkout
Setup git to not show untracked files in the status output. You can also setup the username and email associated with this git repository if different than your normal username / email if desired.
githome config --local status.showUntrackedFiles no
Once cloned, it may be necessary to initialize / update any submodules for any git repositories that are embedded in the environment.
githome submodule init
githome submodule update
To update submodules if they are updated:
githome submodule update
ℹ️ Further Reading: For more info on bare repository setup, see the further reading section below.
ℹ️ SSH Keys: If you wish to configure SSH keys to use with github as a different account, see the guide at doc/ssh_config.md.
The .bashrc file is a generic resource file which defines some basics which should be compatible for any user. This script will reference the following user specific files.
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
| .default/common_rc.sh | This file is included prior to any repository specific resource files. Use this for common definitions for a given site or department. This can include things like the WORKSPACES, DEFAULT_GIT_SERVER, MODULEPATH, etc. This is indended to be a shared common file for all users in a given group which provides any proporietary information which should not be included in a public repository like this one. |
| .private/private_rc.sh | This file is included next and is intended to be a user specific setting. This will be a place for users to define any custom aliases or envirnoment variables. If can also be used to override anything set in the common_rc.sh script. |
| .default/repo_rc.sh | This file is used as a template for any new repositories that use the ${GIT_REPO} environment setup. This file is copied to ${GIT_REPO}/.rc/rc for user generated repos |
| ${GIT_ROOT}/.rc/rc | If the ${GIT_ROOT} envinroment variable is set, this will look for and source any resource file located in this path. This can be used to specify repository specific aliases and environment setup. |
| ${GIT_ROOT}/.rc/bld_target.sh | This file is used to define a specific platform to set for the current command shell. See Build Target discussion below |
| .private/post_rc.sh | This file is included at the very end of the .bashrc file for any thing to be done at the end of the environment setup. This can be used to override any defaults that were defined in any previous file. |
There are a few environmental configuration options which can be toggled in a user private .default/common_rc.sh script.
#!/bin/bash
# Default resource file
#
# .default/common_rc.sh - Set user specific environment options. This should include any aliases, environment path
# variables, and any other user specific environment options.
#
# This file is sourced in the .bashrc script after defaults have been initialized but before any processing of the env
# variables or execution of supporting scripts This allows the user to override some defaults, or setup other parameters
# prior to executing further env setup scripts. This can be used in conjunction with the .default/post_rc.sh script to
# control and override environment default set in the .bashrc script on a per user basis in the event .bashrc is a common
# file.
#
# The general order of loading resource scripts is as follows:
# .bashrc
# // setup any bash environment and other variables
# // initialize any common ENV vars (PATH / LD_RUN_PATH / etc)
# // determine env specific resource script based on GIT_REPO
# . .default/common_rc.sh # load common_rc.sh script to set any user specific env variables
# . ${GIT_REPO}/.rc/rc # load env specific resource script
# // process any ENV variables needed
# // setup prompt / title routines
# . .default/post_rc.sh # load post_rc.sh script to override anything that was done so far
# To disable unicode characters in VIM and bash prompts. There are unicode characters used for the terminal window title,
# and in VIM, unicode characters are used in the status line, buffer line, and window title.
export USE_UNICODE=1
# Set autosave for option vim
export AUTOSAVE=0
# Setting this to 0 will not show the current $BLD_TARGET in the command prompt. By default the prompt will look like this:
# $BLD_TARGET $GIT_REPO (<git-branch>) <directory>$
# Setting this to 0 will result in the following:
# $GIT_REPO (<git-branch>) <directory>$
export SHOW_TARGET_IN_PROMPT=1
# This env variable is used by the .vimrc to shorten path names for window title
# Example: SRC_PATH_PREFIX="common/path/to/src" will result in truncating that
# portion out of the window path title. So if for example you were in the path
# /<repo>/common/path/to/src/lib/
# then the window title would show
# /<repo>/../lib/
# This variable is also used by the retag script to generate ctags for a repository.
export SRC_PATH_PREFIX="projects"
# UNIFIED_HISTORY - This env var is used to determine if a unified history should be used between all sessions into a host.
# This will enable the 'history' command to use a file instead of in memory history so the shell history is updated every
# command across all sessions, not just the current session as is the default
export UNIFIED_HISTORY=0
# Setup source code path prefix based on GIT_ROOT, also setup TAGDIR which is used by VIM to look for any ctags
if [ $GIT_ROOT ]; then
ROOT_PATH=${GIT_ROOT}
if [ -d ${GIT_ROOT}/.rc/tags ]; then
TAGDIR=${GIT_ROOT}/.rc/tags
else
TAGDIR=${HOME}/.default/tags
fi
else
TAGDIR=${HOME}/.default/tags
fi
# TAG_PATH - The TAG_PATH variable defines a list of paths to parse for the retag script. This is
# a whitespace delimited list of path definitions. Each path definition is a colon delimited list
# consisting of <default>:<tag-file>:<path> with the following definitions:
# <default> - 0|1 if 0, then only process this path if the retag -a option is given
# <tag-file> - The filename to use for the output
# <path> - The path to start a recursive tag search in
# This is all run from the ${GIT_ROOT}/${SRC_PATH_PREFIX} location. All paths should be
# relative from that directory
TAG_PATH="1:tags_src:src"
TAG_PATH="$TAG_PATH 1:tags_inc:inc"
export TAG_PATH
# Set defaults needed for ~/sbin/git-repo script to work with our environment
export WORKSPACES=${HOME}/work:${HOME}/projects
export WORKSPACE_SEARCH_DEPTH=5
export DEFAULT_GIT_SERVER=git@github.comThere is a script at sbin/git-repo which can be used to setup a new sub-shell environment to set repository specific environment variables and other such parameters. This script will set a few env variables and enter a new sub-shell with these variables defined and change directories to the root level of that repository. This script will use the $WORKSPACES environment variable to scan for valid git repositories matching the given name, or if no repository is specified, it will list all respositories.
The git-repo script can also be used to clone a new repository if needed. To use this script properly, there are a few key environment variables which should be set in .default/common_rc. These variables are as follows:
# WORKSPACES - This is a `:` delimited list of paths to search for repositories in. When used with the git-repo script, these paths
# will be searched for any repo name specified on the command line
export WORKSPACES=${HOME}/projects:/public/${USER}/projects
# WORKSPACE_SEARCH_DEPTH - This variable defines the search depth in the available WORKSPACES paths in which
# to look for valid git repositories. This means the script will search for valid git repositories a maximum
# of WORKSPACE_SEARCH_DEPTH directories deep from each workspace. If not set, this will default to a search
# depth of 5. The larger the value, the more time it will take to actually search for repositories.
# Example:
export WORKSPACE_SEARCH_DEPTH=5
# DEFAULT_GIT_SERVER - This is used to set a URL to a git server from which to clone
export DEFAULT_GIT_SERVER=git@github.com
# DEFAULT_GIT_REPO - This is used to specify a default repository to clone from the server
export DEFAULT_GIT_REPO=raven42/dotfiles.gitdev-server ~$ echo $WORKSPACES
/home/raven42/.vim/pack/plugins/start:/home/raven42/projects
dev-server ~$ echo $WORKSPACE_SEARCH_DEPTH
1
dev-server ~$ git-repo
Multiple repositories found. Please specify which repository.
/home/raven42/.vim/pack/plugins/start/nerdtree
/home/raven42/.vim/pack/plugins/start/tagbar
/home/raven42/.vim/pack/plugins/start/devpanel-vim
/home/raven42/projects/dotfiles
/home/raven42/projects/vim-src
/home/raven42/projects/ctags
Please entry repository path: dotfiles
Setting up GIT environment variables for dotfiles...
RC SPEC:/home/raven42/projects/dotfiles/.rc/rc
TAGDIR:/home/raven42/projects/dotfiles/.rc/tags
dotfiles (master) dotfiles$ git status
On branch master
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/master'.
nothing to commit, working tree clean
dotfiles (master) dotfiles$ exit
exit
dev-server ~$ git-repo dotfiles
Setting up GIT environment variables for dotfiles...
RC SPEC:/home/raven42/projects/dotfiles/.rc/rc
TAGDIR:/home/raven42/projects/dotfiles/.rc/tags
dotfiles (master) dotfiles$ exit
exit
dev-server ~$
The ${GIT_ROOT}/.rc/bld_target.sh file is sourced after every command as part of the PROMPT_COMMAND function call. This can be used to set a current $BLD_TARGET environment variable which can be used for all future commands. This variable is also displayed on the bash prompt. This can be used to create common aliases / scripts using this environement variable. This build target can be modified using the following script.
some_target <git-repo> (master) proj$ bld-target
Current build target is BLD_TARGET=some_target
some_target <git-repo> (master) proj$ bld-target another_target
Set new default BLD_TARGET=another_target in [<git-repo>/.rc/bld_target.sh]
another_target <git-repo> (master) proj$
This file should contain as little as possible. Ideally only exporting the $BLD_TARGET environment variable.
export BLD_TARGET=<build-target>Example:
alias cp-img='cp ${GIT_ROOT}/<build-path>/${BLD_TARGET}/<path-to-image> <dest-path>'
See the .vim/ file for more information on the VIM setup and configuration including shortcuts and further personalization options. Documentation for plugins which are used and can be customized can be found here:
- https://github.com/raven42/devpanel-vim
- https://github.com/preservim/nerdtree
- https://github.com/preservim/tagbar
- https://github.com/tpope/vim-fugitive
- https://github.com/airblade/vim-gitgutter
ℹ️ For full list of plugins, see the .vim readme or the .vim/pack/plugins/start directory.
The VIM plugins and resource files all require VIM 8 installed. This can be compiled and installed from the source if the default version is not VIM 8 or higher.
- Clone the git repository:
git clone https://github.com/vim/vim
cd vim
- If you have previously cloned and built vim in your local vim repository, do the following to return it to a porcelain state. Otherwise you can skip to step 3.
git clean -dxf
git pull
- Now you can configure, build, and install vim
./configure --with-features=huge \
--enable-multibyte \
--enable-rubyinterp=yes \
--enable-python3interp=yes \
--with-python3-command=$PYTHON_VER \
--with-python3-config-dir=$(python3-config --configdir) \
--enable-perlinterp=yes \
--enable-gui=gtk2 \
--enable-cscope \
--enable-fontset \
--prefix=${HOME}/bin/vim-9.0
make
make install
To install for all users, additional packages may be needed in order to compile. In this example we will use a Debian distribution, so subsitute with the package manager of your choice if required.
sudo apt-get build-deps vim
sudo apt remove vim vim-runtime gvim
cd ~
get clone https://github.com/vim/vim
cd vim
./configure --prefix=/usr/local --enable-python3interp --enable-perlinterp --enable-gnome-check --enable-gui=auto --enable-gtk2-check --with-x --enable-fontset --enable-gtk2-check
make VIMRUNTIMEDIR=/usr/local/share/vim/vim82
⚠️ Note: For some linux distribution installs (like Debian currently), even though VIM 8 is installed on the system, it may not have the required compilation flags for full usage of this environment setup (like--enable-python3interp). So manual compilation may still be needed. See here for more details.
By default VIM uses its own clipboard. The .vimrc file does override this and uses the system clipboard for autoselect as well as copy/paste funcitonality. If you wish to enabled this for use across SSH connections, then X11 forwarding must be enabled on the SSH session. This can be done in one of two ways.
Enable X11 forwarding per ssh session: This will enable X11 forwarding only for this specific session.
ssh -XY <hostname>
Enable X11 forwarding in the .ssh/config file: This will enable it for SSH connections as defined in the config file.
Host *.<trusted-network>
ForwardX11 yes
ForwardX11Trusted yes
⚠️ Caution: Only enable this for trusted hosts. Otherwise this will forward X11 parameters to all hosts.
⚠️ Note: Also special handling is needed when using visual mode selection. This is set to automatically copy to the system clipboard. If you select something using the mouse, and then while it is still selected use the scroll wheel to move the window down, additional content will be put in the clipboard other than just what was selected.
While not strictly needed, the vim configuration can make use of unicode characters to make things look a little nicer. To make use of this, the USE_UNICODE environment variable needs to be set to 1 in your .default/common_rc or similar. You must also make sure to have a font installed that has unicode characters. All the examples in the vim usage and configuration are shown with unicode characters enabled.
To get unicode character support on different disrtibutions, the powerline package may need to be installed. It may also be advantagous to install the additional font packages listed here:
These plugins also work better with Universal CTAGS instead of Exuberant CTAGS. This can also be compiled and installed from the source if the distribution does not already include universal ctags.
git clone https://github.com/universal-ctags/ctags
cd ctags
./autogen.sh
./configure --prefix=${HOME}
make
make install
It is also possible to integrate environment modules into these resource files. Environment modules allows for easy setting of your $PATH / $LD_LIBRARY_PATH / $MANPATH and other similar environment variables. It also allows you to load a module at will, and to unload a module at will. This makes swapping toolsets or such an easy task. For more info, see the modules link in the further reading section.
For more reading, see the following:
- https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/dotfiles
- https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/git-submodule
- https://docs.github.com/en/github/authenticating-to-github/connecting-to-github-with-ssh
- https://docs.github.com/en/github/writing-on-github
- https://www.webfx.com/tools/emoji-cheat-sheet/
- https://www.rapidtables.com/code/text/unicode-characters.html
- https://modules.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html
Credit: