Unix starter home

Home directory configuration files and directories for Unix-like operating systems and environments, compliant with the XDG Base Directory Specification where possible.

Before installing under Cygwin

Open a Command Prompt and set the environment variable CYGWIN_NOWINPATH.

setx CYGWIN_NOWINPATH 1

Installation

Clear the home directory

Open a terminal and remove all files and directories from the home directory. Remove the # DANGER! prefix if you understand the implications.

# DANGER! find ~ -mindepth 1 -delete

Clone the repository

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/robin-crampton/unix-starter-home.git ~

The repository contains submodules from these repositories:

• https://github.com/ervandew/supertab
• https://github.com/rupa/z
• https://github.com/seebi/dircolors-solarized.git
• https://github.com/tomasiser/vim-code-dark
• https://github.com/tpope/vim-unimpaired

Run the configuration script

~/.config/unix-starter-home-configure

The script:

• restricts access to directories ~/.cache, ~/.local/state and ~/.ssh
• removes git-related files and directories created by the git clone above.
• removes redundant files such as this README
• if running under Cygwin, changes the cygdrive path prefix for the user so that drives are mounted on /mnt/<drive-letter> instead of /cygdrive/<drive-letter> for compatibility with the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard and the Windows Subsystem for Linux.

Cygwin-specific installation steps

A typical Cygwin installation contains 2 shortcuts to the terminal:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Cygwin\Cygwin64 Terminal.lnk
C:\Users\Public\Desktop\Cygwin64 Terminal.lnk

Change the Target property of each shortcut to:

C:\cygwin64\bin\mintty.exe --position centre --size maxheight -

You might like to change the icon of each shortcut to this icon:

C:\cygwin64\home\%USERNAME%\.config\mintty\icons\prompt.#d4d4d4.transparent-background.ico

Check the installation

Close and reopen the terminal to check the installation.