Machine Setup

The idea is to be able to replicate a certain setup (when reseting your machine or using a completely new machine). Additionally, it should be possible to update the setup easily when needed, e.g. an update to your vim config files. So, it will help with managing dotfiles, symlinks, etc.

A real world example can be found in my .dotfiles repository.

You can also use it for other tasks such as making the onboarding process of a new colleague easier by providing them a config that installs certain dependencies and checks out important repositories.

Install

Install via cargo or download a binary from the release page.

cargo install machine_setup

Install Shell Completions

zsh

This might differ for your setup.

1. Download the shell completions and put them in the appropriate folder that is in your fpath

sudo wget -P /usr/local/share/zsh/site-functions/ https://raw.githubusercontent.com/timopruesse/machine_setup/main/completions/_machine_setup

2. Reload zsh

exec zsh

other

The shell completions for other shells such as fish can be found in completions.
You're welcome to submit a PR with installation instructions for your favorite shell. 😇

Run

Subcommands

command	description	example
install	install the defined tasks	machine_setup install
update	update the defined tasks	machine_setup update
uninstall	uninstall the defined tasks	machine_setup uninstall
list	list all of the defined tasks	machine_setup list

By default, machine_setup will look for a file called machine_setup with a supported file format.
Supported file formats are: yaml, yml, and json.

Command line parameters

flag	value	example
-c --config	specify a different path to the config file	machine_setup install -c ./config/my_setup.yaml
-t --task	only run the specified task	machine_setup install -t my_task2
-s --select	select a task to run	machine_setup install -s
-h --help	display help information	machine_setup --help
-v --version	display version information	machine_setup --version
-d --debug	print additional debug information	machine_setup install --debug
-l --level	set a log level (info, warn, error, debug, trace)	machine_setup install --level=info

Supported config file formats

The supported formats are YAML and JSON.

Configure

Tasks can be defined under the tasks root key. Every task can contain an arbitrary number of commands.

key	description	values	default
tasks	root key for all of the tasks
default_shell	shell that is used when not specified by the command	bash, zsh	bash
temp_dir	define where temporary files are stored		~/.machine_setup
parallel	run all of the tasks in parallel	true or false	false
num_threads	number of threads when run in parallel	numeric > 1	physical processor count - 1

Task specific configuration

key	description	values	examples
os	only run on the specified os	possible values	"linux" or ["linux", "macos"]
parallel	run all of the commands in parallel (1 thread per command)	true or false	false

TODO: Add JSON examples...

Check out the example configuration below:

temp_dir: "~/my_temp" # defaults to "~/.machine_setup"
default_shell: "zsh" # defaults to "bash"
parallel: true
num_threads: 2
tasks:
  my_task1:
    os: ["linux", "windows"]
    parallel: true
    commands:
      - copy:
          src: "./src/files"
          target: "/tmp/target"
      - copy:
          src: "./src/files_2"
          target: "/tmp/target"

  my_task2:
    os: ["linux"]
    parallel: true
    commands:
      - shell: "sudo apt-get install git -y"
      - symlink:
          src: "./src/config"
          target: "~/.dotfiles"

Extend a configuration

Extensibility is not explicitly built in.
However, it's possible to execute tasks from another configuration via the machine_setup command.

Available config commands

copy

This command copies the contents of a directory to another directory.

argument	value	required	example
src	source directory/file	✅	"./src/files" or "./src/test.txt"
target	target directory/file	✅	"/tmp/target" or "/tmp/target/new.txt"
ignore	list of files/directories to ignore	➖	["dist", "package-lock.json"]

example

copy:
  src: "./src/files"
  target: "/tmp/target"
  ignore: ["dist", "package-lock.json"]

clone

This command clones a git repository to the specified destination.

argument	value	required	example
url	URL to a git repository	✅	"git@github.com:timopruesse/machine_setup.git"
target	target directory	✅	"~/machine_setup"

example

clone:
  url: "git@github.com:timopruesse/machine_setup.git"
  target: "~/machine_setup"

symlink

This command symlinks all the files from the source directory to the target directory.

argument	value	required	example
src	source directory/file	✅	"./src/files" or "./src/test.txt"
target	target directory/file	✅	"/tmp/target" or "/tmp/new.txt"
ignore	list of files/directories to ignore	➖	["dist", "package-lock.json"]
force	true/false	➖

If force is set to true, existing files will be removed and replaced by the symlinks.

example

symlink:
  src: "./src/files"
  target: "/tmp/target"
  ignore: ["dist", "package-lock.json"]
  force: true

run

This command executes a shell command.

Hint: Avoid the usage of interactive commands when possible.

argument	description	required	default	values
env	environment variables	➖
shell	shell that is used	➖	"bash"	"bash", "zsh"

By default, shell commands will be skipped when updating or uninstalling. You can change that by prodiving update and/or uninstall.

The following arguments can be passed to commands:

argument	description	required	example
install	command for installing	➖	"sudo apt-get -y install git"
update	command for updating	➖	"sudo apt-get -y upgrade git"
uninstall	command for uninstalling	➖	"sudo apt-get -y uninstall git"

example

inline_command:
  run:
    commands: "sudo apt-get -y install git"

multiline_command:
  run:
    commands:
      - "sudo apt-get update"
      - "sudo apt-get -y install git"

updatable_command:
  run:
    env:
      SOME_TOKEN: "abc123"
    commands:
      install: "sudo apt-get -y install git"
      update: "sudo apt-get -y upgrade git"
      uninstall: "sudo apt-get -y uninstall git"

updatable_multiline_command:
  run:
    env:
      SOME_TOKEN: "abc123"
    commands:
      install:
        - "sudo apt update"
        - "sudo apt-get -y install git"
      update:
        - "sudo apt-get -y upgrade git"
        - ...
      uninstall:
        - "sudo apt-get -y uninstall git"
        - ...

machine_setup

With this command it's possible to include other machine_setup configuration files.

argument	description	required	example
config	path to the other config file	✅	"./my_other_config.yaml"
task	define a single task that should be run	➖	"my_other_task"

example

machine_setup:
  config: "./my_other_config.yaml"
  task: "my_other_task" # optional