Keep your Mac application settings in sync.
Install Dropbox first, it's needed.
On your current Mac:
# Download Mackup
curl -o mackup https://raw.github.com/lra/mackup/master/mackup.py
# Make it executable
chmod +x mackup
# Launch it and back up your files in Dropbox
./mackup backupYou're all set, and constantly backuped from now on.
Next, on any new Mac, install Dropbox and do:
# Download Mackup
curl -o mackup https://raw.github.com/lra/mackup/master/mackup.py
# Make it executable
chmod +x mackup
# Launch it and restore your files from Dropbox
./mackup restoreDone !
# Download Mackup
curl -o mackup https://raw.github.com/lra/mackup/master/mackup.py
# Make it executable
chmod +x mackup
# Copy it to your path
sudo mv mackup /usr/bin/mackup
# Launch it
mackup backupYou can revert all your files to their original state.
# Just run this
mackup uninstallThis will move back any file from Dropbox to its original place in your home folder and destroy the Mackup folder in Dropbox.
mackup backup
Backup your application settings in Dropbox.
mackup restore
Restore your application settings on a newly installed workstation.
mackup uninstall
Revert any synced config file to its original state, and delete the Mackup folder in Dropbox. This will revert your system at pre-Mackup state.
mackup -h
Get some help, obvious...
- Backups your application settings in Dropbox
- Syncs your application settings among all your workstations
- Restores your configuration on any fresh install in one command line
By only tracking pure configuration files, it keeps the crap out of your freshly new installed workstation (No cache, temporary and locally specific files are transfered).
It also helps you spend more time doing real cool stuff, and less time setting you environment.
Let's take git as an example. Your settings for git are saved in your home
folder, in the .gitconfig file.
When you launch mackup backup, here's what it's really doing:
cp ~/.gitconfig ~/Dropbox/Mackup/.gitconfigrm ~/.gitconfigln -s ~/Dropbox/Mackup/.gitconfig ~/.gitconfig
Now your git config is always backup and up to date on all your Macs.
When you launch mackup restore, here's what it's really doing:
ln -s ~/Dropbox/Mackup/.gitconfig ~/.gitconfig
That's it, you got your git config setup on your new Mac.
mackup does the same for any supported application.
- Adium
- Bash
- Boto
- Byobu
- ControlPlane
- Emacs
- Fish
- GeekTool
- Git
- GnuPG
- ITerm2
- Keymo
- KeyRemap4MacBook
- LimeChat
- MacOSX
- MacVim
- Mercurial
- MercuryMover
- MPV
- Oh My Zsh
- OpenSSH
- PCKeyboardHack
- Pentadactyl
- Pow
- Quicksilver
- Rails
- Ruby Version
- Ruby
- S3cmd
- Sequel Pro
- SizeUp
- Slate
- Sublime Text
- Subversion
- TextMate
- Tmux
- Ventrilo
- Vim
- Vimperator
- Witch
- X11
- XEmacs
- Zsh
You can add your favorite application by forking it and doing a Pull Request.
Open a new issue.
Yesterday, I had a talk with Zach Zaro, complaining about the pain it is to reconfigure our Macbook each time we get a new one or install from scratch. That's a talk we already had months ago.
I change my workstation every X months. Each time I either loose the configuration of all the apps I use, or I just waste a bunch of hours getting setup like I was on my old box. I also spent a lot of time reconfiguring the same stuff again on all my workstations (home, work)
Boring...
Some people tried to solve the problem on the application layer, like Github's Boxen, but I feel like it solves a non problem: I don't really spend time installing stuff, mostly downloading: I spend time configuring it.
For years, I've used a personnal shell script that was copying known config files into Subversion, Git or Dropbox, and linked them into my home. But I felt a lot of us had the same problem: Making a more generic tool could help others and I could get help from others to support more apps in the tool.
So here comes Mackup, the little tool that will sync all your application configs to Dropbox.
And it's GPL of course.
- OS X
Mackup is just a contraction of Mac and Backup, I suck at naming stuff, ok.