dotfiles

Personal dotfiles managed with GNU Stow for easy synchronization across multiple machines.

Overview

This repository contains configuration files (dotfiles) for various tools and applications. Using GNU Stow, these dotfiles can be easily installed and managed through symbolic links.

Prerequisites

• Git
• GNU Stow

Installing GNU Stow

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get install stow

macOS:

brew install stow

Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S stow

Repository Structure

Each directory represents a "package" that can be independently installed:

dotfiles/
├── bash/          # Bash configuration (.bashrc, .bash_profile)
├── git/           # Git configuration (.gitconfig)
├── vim/           # Vim configuration (.vimrc)
├── zsh/           # Zsh configuration (.zshrc)
├── tmux/          # Tmux configuration (.tmux.conf)
└── install.sh     # Installation script

Each package contains files organized as they would appear in your home directory. For example:

• bash/.bashrc will be linked to ~/.bashrc
• git/.gitconfig will be linked to ~/.gitconfig

Installation

Clone the Repository

First, clone this repository to your home directory or any preferred location. By default the configuration files expect to live in ~/.dotfiles, but you can override that by exporting a DOTFILES environment variable that points to the repository.

git clone https://github.com/zoro11031/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles
cd ~/.dotfiles

If you would rather keep the repository elsewhere, set the environment variable accordingly before running the scripts. For example:

export DOTFILES="$HOME/my-dotfiles"
cd "$DOTFILES"

Install All Packages

To install all dotfiles at once:

./install.sh

Install Specific Packages

To install only specific packages:

./install.sh bash git vim

Manual Installation (without script)

You can also manually install packages using stow:

cd "$DOTFILES"
stow bash     # Install bash configuration
stow git      # Install git configuration
stow vim      # Install vim configuration

Uninstalling

To uninstall packages, use the uninstall flag:

./install.sh --uninstall bash git

Or manually with stow:

cd "$DOTFILES"
stow -D bash  # Remove bash configuration

Updating

To update your dotfiles:

1. Pull the latest changes:

   cd "$DOTFILES"
   git pull

2. Reinstall the packages:

   ./install.sh --reinstall

Customization

Local Overrides

To add machine-specific customizations without modifying the repository:

• For bash: Create ~/.bashrc.local
• For zsh: Create ~/.zshrc.local

These files will be automatically sourced if they exist and are ignored by git.

Modifying Dotfiles

1. Edit the files in the dotfiles repository
2. Commit your changes:

   git add .
   git commit -m "Update configuration"
   git push

Available Configurations

Bash

• Command history settings
• Colorized prompt
• Common aliases (ll, la, grep)
• Bash completion support

Git

• User configuration (name, email)
• Color output
• Useful aliases (st, co, br, ci, lg)
• Default branch settings

Vim

• Syntax highlighting
• Line numbers
• Smart indentation
• Search settings
• No backup files

Zsh

• Command history
• Colorized prompt
• Completion system
• Common aliases

Tmux

• Custom prefix (Ctrl-a)
• Mouse support
• Better pane splitting
• Status bar customization

Syncing Across Machines

To sync dotfiles across multiple machines:

1. First machine (initial setup):

   cd "$DOTFILES"
   # Make your changes
   git add .
   git commit -m "Your changes"
   git push

2. Other machines (sync):

   cd "$DOTFILES"
   git pull
   ./install.sh --reinstall

Troubleshooting

Conflicts with Existing Files

If you have existing dotfiles, stow will warn you about conflicts. You can:

1. Backup your existing files:

   mv ~/.bashrc ~/.bashrc.backup

2. Then run the installation again

Checking What Will Be Linked

To see what stow will do without actually doing it:

stow -n -v bash  # Dry run with verbose output

License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Feel free to fork this repository and customize it for your own use. If you have suggestions for improvements, please open an issue or pull request.