dotfiles
This article collects links to many user repositories containing custom configuration files, often referred to as dotfiles.
Contents
Keeping dotfiles under version control
Using version-control software to manage one’s dotfiles helps with:
- keeping track of changes
- sharing with others, e. g. by hosting one’s dotfiles on github
- synchronising dotfiles across various hosts
Tools
Some tools exist which can facilitate managing version-controlled dotfiles in various ways. A problem addressed by most of these tools concerns keeping the dedicated path containing one’s dotfiles in sync with the file-system tree under $HOME. Scripts often do this by symlinking global config locations to the repository path (a notable exception is vcsh, which can track dotfiles in-place).
- Symlinks files kept at a central path into the $HOME tree.
- Allows separating differents modules (e.g., Emacs config vs. zsh config) into individual repositories which can be maintained separately, as opposed to keeping all dotfiles in a single repository. Works with git only.
- Intended to version-control system-wide configuration in /etc. Works by keeping track of permissions and modes which version-control software often ignores. Can use various SCM systems as a backend. Hooks can auto-commit changes to the repository before a system-upgrade; for pacman, these hooks currently have to be triggered manually.
Maintaining dotfiles across multiple machines
One way of maintaining dotfiles across various machines across various hosts while still allowing for per-host customizations, is by maintaining a master-branch for all shared configuration, while each individual machine has a machine-specific branch checked out. Host-specific configuration can be committed to the machine-specific branch; as shared configuration is added to the master-branch, the per-machine branches are then rebased on top of the updated master.
Confidential information
Occasionally, software may keep plain-text passwords in configuration files, as opposed to hooking into a keyring. In these cases, git clean-filters may be handy to avoid accidentally commiting confidential information. E. g., the following .gitattributes file assigns a filter to the file “some-dotfile”:
# .gitattributes some-dotfile filter=remove-pass
Whenever the file “some-dotfile” is checked into git, git will invoke the filter “remove-pass” on the file before checking it in. The filter must be defined in .git/config, e. g.:
[filter "remove-pass"] clean = "sed -e 's/^password=.*/#password=TODO/'"
Automatically generating screenshots with an X virtual framebuffer
screenshots/generate.sh in bamos/dotfiles shows how to use an X virtual framebuffer to generate screenshots of programs and colorschemes. Example results are stored in the screenshots directory.
Repositories
Author | Shell | WM / DE | Editor | Terminal | Multiplexer | Audio | Monitor | IRC | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alad | zsh | i3 | emacs | xterm | deadbeef | htop | thunderbird | weechat | |
Ambrevar | zsh | awesome | emacs | rxvt-unicode | cmus | htop/vicious | mutt | ||
bamos | zsh | i3/xmonad | vim/emacs | rxvt-unicode | tmux | mpv/cmus | conky/xmobar | mutt | ERC |
brisbin33 | zsh | xmonad | vim | rxvt-unicode | screen | dzen | mutt | irssi | |
cinelli | zsh | dwm | vim | termite-git | pianobar | htop | mutt-kz | weechat | |
falconindy | bash | i3 | vim | rxvt-unicode | ncmpcpp | conky | mutt | ||
graysky | zsh | xfce4 | vim | terminal | ncmpcpp | custom | thunderbird | ||
gtmanfred | zsh | dwm | vim | termite-git | tmux | mpd | conky | mutt | weechat |
insanum | bash | herbstluftwm | vim | evilvte | tmux | dzen | mutt-kz | ||
izmntuk | zsh | i3 | vim/geany | rxvt-unicode | tmux | cmus | htop/i3bar | thunderbird | irssi |
jasonwryan | bash/zsh | dwm | vim | rxvt-unicode | tmux | ncmpcpp | custom | mutt | irrsi |
meskarune | bash | herbstluftwm | vim | rxvt-unicode | screen | conky | weechat | ||
neersighted | zsh | i3 | vim | rxvt-unicode | tmux | ncmpcpp | htop | mutt | irssi |
OK100 | bash | dwm | vim | rxvt-unicode | cmus | conky, dzen | mutt | weechat | |
unexist | zsh | subtle | vim | rxvt-unicode | ncmpcpp | mutt | irssi | ||
vodik | zsh | xmonad | vim | termite-git | tmux | ncmpcpp | custom | mutt | weechat |
w0ng | zsh | dwm | vim | rxvt-unicode | tmux | ncmpcpp | custom | mutt | irssi |
Wintervenom | bash | herbstluftwm | vim | rxvt-unicode | screen | mpd (mpc-utils) | hlwm-dzen2 | mutt | weechat |
wolfcore | bash | dwm | vim | rxvt-unicode | tmux | cmus | custom | weechat | |
xfausto | zsh | dwm | vim | st | ncmpcpp | conky | |||
thiagowfx | bash/zsh | i3 | vim/emacs | rxvt-unicode | ncmpcpp | i3blocks | |||
zendeavor | zsh | i3 | vim | rxvt-unicode | tmux | ncmpcpp | i3status | weechat | |
bstaletic | zsh | dwm | vim | terminator | screen | ncmpcpp | conky |