Dotfiles

These are my versioned configuration files for bash, git, and etc.

Environments

This repository attempts to support:

• OS X
• Linux (primarily Debian / CentOS)
• Unix
• Windows XP (using Cygwin; minimal support)

Structure

• bin/ - executables available via $PATH
• docs/ - help files, tutorials, cheatsheets, etc.
• functions/ - autoloaded global functions
• modules/ - autoloaded config files grouped by library/feature/package
• init.sh - main script that loads all functions and modules

How it works

*.symlink magic

All files and directories ending with .symlink will get automatically symlinked into the $HOME directory when you run the dotfiles installer.

The dotfiles installer is safe in that it will never destroy existing files, it can run multiple times with the same outcome (i.e. idempotent), and you can undo all changes with the uninstaller. You'll only need to run the dotfiles installer once.

After running the dotfiles installer, your $HOME folder will look something like:

$ ls -l `find ~ -maxdepth 1 -type l -print`
lrwxr-xr-x  1 myuser  staff  57 Aug 11 11:28 /Users/myuser/.bash_profile@ -> /Users/myuser/.dotfiles/modules/bash/bash_profile.symlink
lrwxr-xr-x  1 myuser  staff  51 Aug 11 11:28 /Users/myuser/.bashrc@ -> /Users/myuser/.dotfiles/modules/bash/bashrc.symlink
lrwxr-xr-x  1 myuser  staff  51 Aug 11 11:28 /Users/myuser/.bundle@ -> /Users/myuser/.dotfiles/modules/ruby/bundle.symlink
lrwxr-xr-x  1 myuser  staff  50 Aug 11 11:28 /Users/myuser/.gemrc@ -> /Users/myuser/.dotfiles/modules/ruby/gemrc.symlink
lrwxr-xr-x  1 myuser  staff  53 Aug 11 11:28 /Users/myuser/.gitignore@ -> /Users/myuser/.dotfiles/modules/git/gitignore.symlink
lrwxr-xr-x  1 myuser  staff  52 Aug 11 11:28 /Users/myuser/.inputrc@ -> /Users/myuser/.dotfiles/modules/bash/inputrc.symlink
...

NOTE: The symlinked source files should never begin with a . dot. The symlink installer will automatically add a preceeding dot to the symlink destination files. For example, ~/.bashrc -> ~/.dotfiles/bash/bashrc.symlink.

Load init.sh

The init.sh file is the one and only main bootstrapper script that loads global shell variables, loads globally available functions, and autoloads module scripts.

The init.sh script is sourced by very thin .bashrc and .bash_profile which get symlinked into your $HOME directory via the dotfiles installer. These files can be found within the modules/bash/ directory.

Load global functions

The init.sh loader will first source functions before any modules so all global functions are available within each module.

Functions will load in alphabetic order of their filename. Ideally, each file should contain a single function or a group of tightly knit functions.

Load *.autoload.sh module files

After loading functions, the init.sh bootstrapper will find all files appended with .autoload.sh and load them using the built-in source command. The bootstrap loader will take multiple passes to load bash files:

1. first loading files ending in .autoload.first.sh
2. then .autoload.sh
3. and finally .autoload.last.sh

During each pass, files will load in alphabetical order of directory name followed by filename. Autoloaded files are typically found within the modules/ directory.

Copy *.template files

Files or directories ending with .template will get copied into the $HOME directory when you run the dotfiles installer.

NOTE: This functionality is not supported yet.

Bin commands

The bin commands will be made available by adding the bin/ directory to $PATH from within the bash module.

• dotfiles - install, uninstall, and more
• reload - reloads the shell without exiting

Install

Clone dotfiles

git clone https://github.com/benlinton/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles

Install symlinks

Finds dotfiles ending with .symlink and symlinks them in $HOME:

~/.dotfiles/bin/dotfiles --install

Install template files

Some files require templates (instead of symlinks) because they contain sensitive data.

~/.dotfiles/modules/git/gitconfig-restore

NOTE: Eventually we'll use the dotfiles command for these tasks.

Configure sensitive git settings

Update ~/.gitconfig with your secret credentials:

git config --global user.name "Firstname Lastname"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"
git config --global github.user "your_github_username"
git config --global github.token "1234567890abcdefghijklmnop"

Run optional installers

~/.dotfiles/modules/sublime/sublime-install
~/.dotfiles/modules/sublime/sublime-restore
~/.dotfiles/modules/iterm2/iterm2-restore
~/.dotfiles/modules/osx/defaults.sh

Uninstall

dotfiles --uninstall
rm -rf ~/.dotfiles

Testing

Tests are written with bats.

Install bats

Assuming OS X with homebrew installed (otherwise see the bats documentation):

brew install bats

Run tests

bats $DOTFILES_HOME/bin/tests