Dotfiles

This is where I keep my dotfiles in sync between my various computers.

What are dotfiles?

Dotfiles are, in general, customization files used to personalize your *nix-based system. They are called 'dot' files because they begin with a period (e.g. .zshrc). This period or dot indicates to the file system that this file/directory should be hidden.

Where can I learn more about this method of dotfile backup?

• The best way to store your dotfiles: A bare Git repository (the method used here)
• Github does dotfiles

System Updates

As dotfiles get updated on each system, it's important to occasionally keep those changes in sync between repositories.

New System Setup

Installation

Confirm the dotfiles command is present on the system by running:

$ command -v dotfiles

If it's not present, run the following alias or add it to your .bashrc or .zshrc config so that it's always available:

alias dotfiles='/usr/bin/git --git-dir=$HOME/.dotfiles/ --work-tree=$HOME'

Now make sure you don't create recursion issues:

echo ".dotfiles" >> .gitignore

Next, clone this repository down:

git clone --bare git@github.com:tdlm/dotfiles.git $HOME/.dotfiles

Now checkout the actual content into your $HOME directory:

dotfiles checkout

This may fail if there are local versions of the files/folders you're attempting to check out. If that's the case, feel free to back these up or delete them before attempting to run the above command again.

Now set the showUntrackedFiles flag to no for this repository:

dotfiles config --local status.showUntrackedFiles no

✨ You're done now. ✨