Table of Contents
simple tool to manage symlinks in $HOME for aiding in keeping dot files in sync on multiple machines
Inspired by the python version at https://github.com/anishathalye/dotbot
Create a config file
cat << EOF > dotbot.yaml
symlinks:
~/.bashrc: .bashrc
EOF
Run dotbot to make links
dotbot link
If no configuration file is given, the default is assumed to be dotbot.yaml
dotbot -c dotbot.yaml link
To see what needs to be done (pretend mode)
dotbot -c dotbot.yaml link -p
To remove links
dotbot unlink
To see status
dotbot status # Table output
dotbot status -j # As json
A configuration file is optional if automode is used.
dotbot -c is used to provide what configuration to run. Multiple configuration files can be specified by passing -c with a file multiple times.
If no configuration file is provided, dotbot.yaml is assumed if it exists in the current directory.
Additional configuration files can be provided as positional arguments. This makes for a convenient invocation:
dotbot link stuff.yaml
the clean block indicates directories to clean up broken symlinks (aka, dangling symlinks)
the tilde (~) is automatically expanded to the uses home directory. The path is evaluated
as a glob so wildcards may be used.
Sample configuration
clean:
- '~'
mkdirs:
- ~/asdf
symlinks:
~/.bash_profile: .bash_profile
~/.bashrc: .bashrc
walkdirs:
~/bin: bin
A script is a series of shell commands that allow you to run commands before or after creating symlinks.
Example
script:
- id: example1
type: pre
command: |
date
- id: example2
command: |
chmod 0400 ~/.ssh/config
chmod 0400 ~/.ssh/config.d/*
- id: example3
shell: /bin/bash
quiet: true
command: |
set -x
date > /tmp/test.txt
For the above examples, example1 is a 'pre' script which runs before symlinks and example2 is a 'post' script which runs after symlinks. By default, when type is not provied, 'post' will be used.
WalkDirs are used to list a directory and apply symlinks for every item (path or file) found. This is useful if symlinks need to come from multiple directories and need to be merged into one.
Includes allow additional dotfiles to be processed as if they were being invoked directly. Include files are processed in order given, after expanding the glob pattern.
Includes are processed after evaluating the contents of the configuration file.
Example
include:
- stuff/foo.yaml
- extra/bar*.yaml
Auto mode is enabled by passing --auto or -a to dotbot link
With automode, no configuration file is required, instead a configuration is automatically generated at runtime. The current directory is used as a file list.
The .git file name is ignored.
automode works with pretend mode
dotbot link -a -p
NAME:
dotbot - manage dot files
USAGE:
dotbot [global options] command [command options] [arguments...]
COMMANDS:
link, l create symlinks
unlink, u remove symlinks
status, s print status table
cleanup show unreferenced files
help, h Shows a list of commands or help for one command
GLOBAL OPTIONS:
--loglevel value, -l value set log level (default: "info")
--config value, -c value [ --config value, -c value ] config file
--help, -h show help (default: false)