Bi-directional configuration-as-code. Deploy the same configuration on multiple machines, change the configuration anywhere, and have it synchronize across all machines.
On Ubuntu, the only prerequisites are git and bash. On Arch, you also need rsync, bc, wget.
wget -qO - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gauravmm/dotdotdot/master/install | bash
dotdotdot will be installed to ~/.dotdotdot. You have to either manually run it each time, or call ~/.dotdotdot/update at the end of your .bashrc.
Machine configurations are specified by regular bash scripts ending in .dotsh. Put all your .dotsh configutation files into a single folder called dotfiles in this directory, and invoke the script with ./dotdotdot. All your scripts will be run.
The real power of dotdotdot is in the git integration. If dotfiles is in a git repository, the repository state is checked and synchronized with the remote before the scripts are run.
The final piece of the puzzle are your scripts: in order for the configuration to be synchronized, your scripts should be bidirectional:
- Entire files can be done with a pair of
rsynccommands. Seezsh.dotsh. - Configuring programs can be done with some creative application of
bashcode. Seevscode.dotsh.
After all the scripts are run, your repository should only be dirty if there are changes made to your configuration. You can then:
- Revert these changes, undoing them at next execution;
- Commit and push them, which shares them to all other machines;
- Branch, commit, and push them, which lets you maintain separate configurations for groups of machines.
The beauty of this approach is that it is git-friendly, allowing you to use version control on your config files.