Configma

Configma is a powerful yet incredibly simple and efficient config files manager. Main focus is on simplicity, reliability, and ease of use.

Features

User-Friendly and Minimalistic: Configma is built with simplicity in mind. Its minimalistic design makes it easy to use, even for beginners.
Easy Git Integration: Configma can be easily used with git for even more convinience.
Small codebase: There is very little code in this project. Managing config files in a very complex way seems like an overkill. But manually managing them is a pain. So configma provides a nice middleground.
Configma add: Adding files or directories to Configma is a breeze with configma add <file / dir>, which moves the specified file or directory into the repository directory mentioned in the Configma config file and symlinks it to the original location. The tool doesn't rely on a separate database; instead, it cleverly uses the files and directories in the repository to symlink them at the correct locations.
Directory stub files: Configma uses a '.configma.stub' file placed within symlinked directories to differentiate directories added to Configma from individual files. Using this approach, Configma avoids the need for a separate database, maintaining its lightweight design.
Configma remove: Removing files from Configma is just as straightforward with configma remove <path>. Whether the path points to a file within your configs or the repository, Configma handles it correctly. This command restores the files/directories from the repository to their original places in your system, making management effortless.
Modules: A Module is set of files that can be overriden by modules with higher precedence. simply mentioning a module after another in config.toml gives the later module higher precedence. configma sync will figure out what files need to be synced and generate the correct symlinks for you.
Profiles: Profiles enable users to consolidate config files from various systems into a single repository. A Profile is just a collection of multiple modules. The currently applied profile data is stored in the '~/.config/configma/profile.active.toml' file, allowing users to seamlessly switch between profiles on each system using the configma switch-profile <name> command.
Force sync: Worried about data loss? The -f flag enables you to force sync or apply a config profile, moving your current configs to a temporary directory to safeguard against accidents.

How to use

Example config

~/.config/configma/config.toml

# this is treated as the default source of modules unless specified
# i recommend using a separate directory for configma modules in your dotfiles repo
repo = "~/.dotfiles/configma"

# These are profiles. very handy if you have multiple devices, or if you like to rice your system
# switching profiles will allow you to quickly switch your rice configurations
[[profiles]]
name = "my-laptop"
# modules specified later have higher precedence.
# modules with higher precedence will override files from other modules in case of a conflict
# NOTE: you need to at least create a directory for each module specified here.
#  configma will complain if it does not find any of the mentioned modules
#  for example, here you need to create the directory '~/.dotfiles/configma/env'. after this,
#  you can just use configma cli commands.
modules = [
  "env",
  "private-env",
  "tools",
]

# your desktop may use different modules than your laptop. so you can simply create a separate
# profile for your desktop.
# here, 'games' module may contain any configuration needed for game runners or even game savefiles.
[[profiles]]
name = "my-desktop"
modules = [
  "env",
  "private-env",
  "env-desktop",
  "tools",
  "games",
]

# this is an example of a module from a source outside your dotfiles repo
# this is useful in cases where you don't want to upload your private secrets to github.
# module sources do not need to be a git repo.
# NOTE: `path` points to the directory parent to your module.
#   In this case configma will look for '~/.dotfiles-private/configma/env-private'
[[modules]]
name = "env-private"
path = "~/.dotfiles-private/configma"

Installation

Cargo

Clone this repository, navigate to the Configma directory and Install Configma using Cargo.

git clone https://github.com/thrombe/configma
cd configma
cargo install --path .

Nix

Try it out

nix run github:thrombe/configma

Else add the following to your nix flake

{
  inputs = {
    ...

    # define flake input
    configma.url = "github:thrombe/configma";
  };

  ...

    # then add it to your environment packages
    packages = [
      inputs.configma.packages."${system}".default
    ];

  ...
}

Create a new profile

Set up a new profile by creating the Configma configuration file.

mkdir -p ~/.config/configma
echo 'repo = "<path>"' > ~/.config/configma/config.toml
configma new-profile <profile name>
configma switch-profile <profile name>

the repo path is any directory where you would like configma to store your config files in.

Switch Profiles

configma switch-profile <profile name>

Add files / directories to current profile

configma add <path>

Remove / Restore a file from current profile

Whether the path points to a file within your configs or the repository, Configma handles it correctly. This command restores the files/directories from the repository to their original places in your system.

configma remove <path>

Sync changes

Sync any changes made in the repo to the system.

configma sync

todo

template system
- file names like configma.toml:my-tag
- templates have something like ^!{my-tag} which get replaced with the contents of that file
fzf interface for choosing profiles
Simlinks to dirs are followed when moving stuff to the repo. instead they should just be copied
- fs_extra::dir::copy has this behavior
Add a set-repo subcommand (with -f) that sets the repo path in configma/config.toml
keep logs of everything done by configma

thrombe / configma