Setup

Download: git clone git://github.com/tomhoover/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles

Your various ~/.dotfiles* directories can be tracked by a revision control system like git, and easily shared with multiple computers. You can have more than one ~/.dotfiles* directory (i.e. .dotfiles, .dotfiles-private, etc). You are then able to share one with others (i.e. .dotfiles), and keep the other private (i.e. .dotfiles-private).

• ~/.dotfiles* contain files like 'bashrc' and directories like 'vim'
• ~/.* are symlinks to files within the various ~/.dotfiles* directories

The first time the script is executed, it will automatically link ~/bin/dotfiles to ~/.dotfiles/dotfiles.

Running

Getting help:

    # dotfiles help
    dotfiles - manages symlink files from ~/.dotfiles/* to ~/.*

    Syntax: dotfiles [ <command> ] [ <options> ]

    Commands:

            list                 - list all files in ~/.dotfiles
            status               - status of available files
            install [-v] [-f]    - installs symlinks

Checking on the status:

    # dotfiles status
    zshrc                         OK
    bashrc                        .
    vimrc                         file

'OK' means that there is a ~/.zshrc symlink to ~/.dotfiles/zshrc. 'file' means that there is a ~/.zshrc file, but we could convert it into a symlink. A dot means that the ~/.bashrc is not populated.

You can install new symlinks:

    # dotfiles install
    installing .zshrc                         ... skipped, OK
    installing .bashrc
    installing .vimrc
    ln: creating symbolic link `/home/bart/.vimrc': File exists

The above skipped .zshrc, installed a symlink for .bashrc, stopped at vimrc because there was a conflict.

Support for host-specific files

The easiest way to illustrate is with an example. Let's say my ~/.dotfiles directory contains the following files:

• bashrc
• bashrc:ariel
• profile
• profile:bethel

If the hostname of my computer is ariel, the following links are created when executing dotfiles install:

• .bashrc -> .dotfiles/bashrc:ariel
• .profile -> .dotfiles/profile

If the hostname of my computer is bethel, the following links would be created instead:

• .bashrc -> .dotfiles/bashrc
• .profile -> .dotfiles/profile:bethel

And, finally, if the hostname of my computer is carmel, the following links would be created:

• .bashrc -> .dotfiles/bashrc
• .profile -> .dotfiles/profile