Jarshwah's dotfiles

Dotfiles by Mathias (https://github.com/mathiasbynens/dotfiles) with symlink deployment by Holman (https://github.com/holman/dotfiles).

Using rsync to put the dotfiles where they need to go works fine, but over time your dotfiles in $HOME and in your repository become out of sync. I found I was spending too long trying to work out the differences between the two sets of files.

So I decided they should be symlinked! I borrowed some bash functions, and here we are.

Installation

Using Git and the bootstrap script

You can clone the repository wherever you want. Some like to put it in $HOME/.dotfiles/ but I prefer $HOME/development/dotfiles. Note that the bootstrap file does not do a git pull so you'll need to make sure your repository is up to date periodically.

git clone https://github.com/jarshwah/dotfiles && cd dotfiles

To update, cd into your local dotfiles repository and then:

source bootstrap.sh

This will symlink all the files from dotfiles/symlink/ to your $HOME directory. If there are clashes with existing files, you will be prompted to overwrite, skip, or backup. It will also attempt to install homebrew if it is not yet installed.

What you get

A bash prompt

I've intentionally kept the prompt very simple to maximise usable space in the terminal. Feel free to modify and use all the available colours.

Various configurations

Vim, tmux, screen and wget supplied config files with some basic defaults - ready for you to modify and personalise.

A place to store your arbitrary config files

Just copy your config files into the dotfiles/symlink directory, and it will be deployed to your $HOME directory when you run the bootstrap script.

Sensible OSX Defaults

When setting up a new Mac, you may want to set some sensible OS X defaults:

./.osx

You should look over this script first, especially while paying attention to the computer names at the top of the file.

Homebrew Packages

Maintain a list of your home brew packages in the BrewFile, and home brew casks in your CaskFile. Simply install by:

brew bundle BrewFile
brew bundle CaskFile

PATH

Manage your $PATH variable in the .path file. We already add the homebrew bin and $HOME/bin so you don't have to.

Environment Variables

Store all your environment variables in the .exports file. We've got your history and python startup covered.

Private Data

The .bash_profile will try to source ~/.extra if it exists. This is the place for you to put your private data and variables. You might want to setup your git config in this file:

# Git credentials
# Not in the repository, to prevent people from accidentally committing
# under my name
GIT_AUTHOR_NAME="Josh Smeaton"
GIT_COMMITTER_NAME="$GIT_AUTHOR_NAME"
git config --global user.name "$GIT_AUTHOR_NAME"
GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL="jarshwah@example.com"
GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL="$GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL"
git config --global user.email "$GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL"

Feedback

Suggestions/improvements welcome!

Though you are probably better off forking https://github.com/mathiasbynens/dotfiles which is what this project is based on. You'll get much more support and progress there.

Thanks to…

Mathias for creating a really great base to work from
Holman for having some sane deployment scripts

(original thanks by Mathias below)

Gianni Chiappetta for sharing his amazing collection of dotfiles
Matijs Brinkhuis and his dotfiles repository
Jan Moesen and his ancient .bash_profile + shiny tilde repository
Ben Alman and his dotfiles repository
Nicolas Gallagher and his dotfiles repository
Tom Ryder and his dotfiles repository
Chris Gerke and his tutorial on creating an OS X SOE master image + Insta repository
@ptb and his OS X Lion Setup repository
Lauri ‘Lri’ Ranta for sharing loads of hidden preferences
Tim Esselens
anyone who contributed a patch or made a helpful suggestion

jarshwah / dotfiles