82 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
82 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
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dotfilemanager.py - a dotfiles manager script.
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This is similar to [Steve Kemp's dotfile manager][] but I rewrote it in
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Python and tweaked the behaviour a bit.
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[Steve Kemp's dotfile manager]: http://blog.steve.org.uk/i_ve_got_a_sick_friend__i_need_her_help_.html
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The idea is that you have some folder called the `TO_DIR` (defaults to
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`~/.dotfiles`), where you move all the dotfiles that you want to manage,
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e.g.
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~/.dotfiles/
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~/.dotfiles/_muttrc
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~/.dotfiles/_nanorc
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...
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You can backup and synchronise this directory between multiple hosts
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using rsync, unison, a version-control system, Dropbox, or whatever you
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want. When you run `dotfilemanager link` it will create symlinks in a
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folder called the `FROM_DIR` (defaults to `~`), e.g.
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~/.muttrc -> ~/.dotfiles/_muttrc
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~/.nanorc -> ~/.dotfiles/_nanorc
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...
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Leading underscores in the filenames in `TO_DIR` will be converted to
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leading dots for the symlinks. You can also link files without leading
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underscores, and you can link directories too, just place them in
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`TO_DIR` and run `dotfilemanager link`.
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Per-host configuration is supported by putting `__hostname` at the end
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of file and directory names in `TO_DIR`. For example if `TO_DIR`
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contains files named:
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_muttrc
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_muttrc__kisimul
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_muttrc__dulip
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Then on the host dulip a symlink `FROM_DIR/.muttrc` will be created to
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`TO_DIR/_muttrc__dulip`. On a host named kisimul `_muttrc__kisimul` will be
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linked to. On other hosts `_muttrc` will be linked to.
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(To discover the hostname of your machine run `uname -n`.)
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`dotfilemanager tidy` will remove any dangling symlinks in `FROM_DIR`, and
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`dotfilemanager report` will just report on what link and tidy would do
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without actually making any changes to the filesystem.
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Tip: handle directories like `~/.config` separately
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-------------------------------------------------
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On my system a lot of config files are stored in `~/.config`. I want to
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manage some of the files in `~/.config` but not all of them. I have
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host-specific versions of some files in `~/.config` but not others. I
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wouldn't want to move `~/.config` to `~/.dotfiles/_config` and have
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dotfilemanager make a symlink `~/.config -> ~/.dotfiles/_config` because
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that would be putting _all_ the files in `~/.config` into `~/.dotfiles`,
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and dotfilemanager would make the same symlink for every host, if I
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wanted a host-specific version of a file in `~/.config` I'd have to put
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_another_ complete copy of the directory into `~/.dotfiles` with a
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`__hostname` at the end.
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What you can do instead is have a `~/config` directory separate from
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`~/.dotfiles`, move the files from `~/.config` that you want to manage
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into `~/config`, make host-specific versions if you want, then run both
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commands:
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dotfilemanager.py link ~ ~/.dotfiles
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dotfilemanager.py link ~/.config ~/config
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Tip: override hostname with `DOTFILEMANAGER_HOSTNAME` environment variable
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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If the `DOTFILEMANAGER_HOSTNAME` environment variable is set then it is
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used instead of your real hostname to resolve hostname-specific files in
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`TO_DIR`. This is useful for accounts on networked systems where you
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login to the same user account from different computers, the system
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hostname will be different each time you switch computers but you want
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to use the same config files whenever you login to this account. So just
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make up a name for the account and set it as the value of
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`DOTFILEMANAGER_HOSTNAME`.
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