dotman

dotman is a dotfile manager for those who...

• like to store their dotfiles in a git repository.
• like to deploy their dotfiles to many remote machines.
• like to be able to simply deploy a minimal-dependency shell script.
• don't want a dependency on automation tools and would rather deploy via ssh.
• don't want to have to write any significant amount of shell script if avoidable.
• enjoy configuring tools using ruby DSLs.

Install from rubygems.org.

gem install dotman-bin

The binary is called dotman.

Usage:
    dotman [--home PATH] --base PATH build
    dotman --version

Options:
    -b, --base PATH    Directory from where configuration files should be sourced
    --home PATH        Directory where symlinks should be placed [default: $HOME]
    -v, --version      Show version

A Dotfile is a lot like a Vagrantfile. It's pure Ruby, but via use of DSL-like patterns it looks more like a configuration file, while still leveraging all the power of a full programming language.

The dotman build command operates by reading the Dotfile in the current directory and processing it. It outputs to standard output a dependency-free Bash script which will install your dotfiles.

"Install", in this case, means to create a symlink from your home directory to the relevant files inside your base directory. This means that updating your dotfiles on a machine requires nothing more than a git pull.

In this example your machine naming scheme is literature-themed.

Dotfile.configure do |config|
    config.alias_host :twain, :clemens
    config.alias_host :huck, :finn

    config.link 'bashrc', to: '.bashrc',    except: [:twain]
    config.link 'bashrc', to: '.bash_extras', only: [:twain]

    %w[bash_completion.d tmux.conf inputrc vimrc vim].each do |entry|
        config.link entry, to: '.' + entry
    end

    config.link 'gitconfig',  to: '.gitconfig',  except: [:twain]
    config.link 'profile',    to: '.profile',    only: [:huck, :sawyer, :twain]
    config.link 'ssh/config', to: '.ssh/config', only: [:huck]
end

The machine's hostname can be used as a conditional. The only and except options can restrict or exclude machines from the action.

It's also possible to create aliases to hostnames using alias_host, if the machine's name is unwelcome.

Place this file in the root directory of the git repository where your dotfiles are stored.

The output of dotman build is a shell script. You probably want to redirect it into a file, perhaps called install.

dotman build --base $HOME/.conf > install

Deploying over ssh is simple.

#!/bin/bash
set -e

git push

COMMAND='cd $HOME/.conf && git pull && ./install'

for MACHINE in clemens finn sawyer; do
    ssh -t $MACHINE $COMMAND
done

This is all it takes to mass-deploy your dotfiles across any number of machines in your "fleet".

Run tests with just test.

Code coverage is output to coverage/.

Use just install to build and install locally for testing.

Open an issue or send a pull request.

GPLv3.