I’m wondering if there is a new tool out there that I’m missing out on.

  • varsock@programming.devEnglish
    3·
    2 years ago

    i take a Phoenix approach with my dotfiles.

    Once a decade when my computer crashes and burns, from the ashes emerges a blank slate of dotfiles that is purged of all unnecessary hacks that have accumulated. With a tear and a hopeful outlook, I rush to set the settings I am actually dependent on.

    I really need to take more interest in backing up my dotfiles 😭

    • Outcide@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 years ago

      Had a homebrew Git setup for ages and recently started using Chezmoi. It’s only been a few weeks, but so far it’s been pretty great!

    • kuresov@lemmy.mlEnglish
      2·
      2 years ago

      I use Chezmoi but I have to point out some of its downfalls vs. other dotfile managers, particularly if someone is looking to migrate to it.

      • Go’s templating lib is incredibly unergonomic.
      • Identifying file perms and visibility in by special naming convention is pretty gross. Also makes it more difficult to migrate to another solution.
      • If you’re deleting files, you need to remember to do it through chezmoi remove .... You can’t just rm them from your dotfiles directory, because chezmoi does not sync state; it simply applies what’s currently in your repo.
      • Handling multiple systems through .chezmoiignore ends up being overly verbose and unintuitive vs. the approach used by other dotfile managers

      Despite these gripes I still use it because deployment via a single binary is convenient, and there’s enough control through the generated config file + system info to handle multiple kinds of deployments sort-of-sensibly (see point 4 above).

  • adr1an@programming.devEnglish
    2·
    2 years ago

    I use git (without remote repo, but could be easily added). Actually this simple bare git repo technique is something I enjoy doing in lots of places where config files lie.

    Basically, it’s only: alias config="/usr/bin/git --git-dir=\${HOME}/.myconf/ --work-tree=\${HOME}"

    Of course, a first time setup is required:

    git init --bare $HOME/.myconf
config config status.showUntrackedFiles no

    I got this setup from a comment on HackerNews long ago. OP comment was rather insightful: “No extra tooling, no symlinks, files are tracked on a version control system, you can use different branches for different computers, you can replicate you configuration easily on new installation.”

    But I never used any branches, prefer to keep it extremely KISS. I even avoid commiting, just staging area that I keep updating with each OS upgrade. Only this bit of extension I use… since I don’t push to any remotes (prefer keeping dotfiles private), I needed a way to copy all of the tracked files (e.g. to have my settings on a work laptop, of course I then go ahead and clean any boilerplate before moving such an ‘exported’ folder)…

    config_export() {
    echo "Copying only staged files, it is recommended to run beforehand: $ config add -u ~"
    mkdir -p ~/.config_export/
    CONFIG_FILES=$(config status | /usr/bin/grep 'new file:' | cut -d':' -f2 | sed -E 's/^ +//')
    printf "%s\n" "${CONFIG_FILES[@]}" | xargs -I {} cp --parent '{}' ~/.config_export/
    ls -halt ~/.config_export/
}
  • codemonk@programming.devEnglish
    2·
    2 years ago

    I prefer to keep tooling for that at a minimum. Therefore I use git only. My approach is taken from here: https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/dotfiles The only difference: My git alias is dotfiles not config. I find that to be less confusing. Additionally, I source system-specific configs, where appropriate. These are not stored in dotfiles. There is a small todo section in my readme.

  • corytheboyd@kbin.social
    2·
    2 years ago

    Tried all the fancy ideas, never stuck with it. I just use git to track changes now and move on with my life. There are like four functions I carry around with me, then whatever path additions and init scripts I pile up. It’s so light it doesn’t really matter when I move to a new machine