Linux

61501 readers

546 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
No misinformation
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, etc

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 6 years ago

MODERATORS

AgreeableLandscape@lemmy.ml

nooter692@lemmy.ml

MarcellusDrum@lemmy.ml

cypherpunks@lemmy.ml

cyclohexane@lemmy.ml

d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz

Help me understand the workflow for cloning dotfiles after a fresh install without hosting dotfiles in the cloud (lemmy.ml)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by yo_scottie_oh@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml

36 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I've been reading up on the concept of dotfile management, and I've come across tools such as GNU Stow, chezmoi, and yadm, but before I select a tool, I'd like to understand the workflow a little better.

I understand if the dotfiles are in some cloud provider such as GitHub, then after a fresh install one can do git clone etc, but let's say one's dotfiles are not stored in the cloud, then what's the workflow for getting those dotfiles onto the freshly installed OS? Do people do git clone from another machine on their local network, manually copy the dotfiles folder from the source, use an app like LocalSend, or something else?

EDIT: Clarifying that this is for a home environment, where I have two or three different laptops in service at any given time. One is my main daily driver and doesn't change much. The other two are kinda my sandboxes and I'm often distro hopping on them. This question is mostly for distro hopping on my sandboxes, which is like once or twice a month. Thanks!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] ashleythorne@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I've been happy with GNU Stow. Super simple and clean. I keep all the files in ~/stow and follow this workflow. You can avoid the git bits if you want and update ~/stow however you want.

cd ~/stow

# pull latest changes from git provider for syncing
git fetch
git status
git pull

# if made any edits and wanted to push them
git add .
git push origin main

# do a dry run of stow just to make sure it won't do anything weird
stow -n -v --no-folding .

# do a real run of stow if nothing is wrong
# note: --no-folding prevents folders from becoming symlinked, only files will be symlinks,
# this prevents unintended files from going into ~/stow
stow -v --no-folding .

[–] yo_scottie_oh@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Thanks for sharing your workflow. How often do you use this workflow? And are you more often cloning your dotfiles for a new setup or just keeping them updated across existing setups over time?

[–] ashleythorne@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

I use it pretty often to keep my desktop, laptop, and server configs in sync.

To setup new systems, I created this bash script: https://lemmy.world/post/41584520/21545156

Then I would run the commands in my original post to create the symlinks.