rahulp959 / dotfiles-1

My dotfiles!

dotfiles

My collection of configuration files for development. Particularly useful to set up a new computer quickly! Keep in mind I've built these for myself so they will need some tweaking if you want to use them.

What are dotfiles?

Dotfiles are files/directories with a . prepended to their name. For example, .bashrc. The leading dot is used as an indicator that these are hidden configuration files. People tend to backup and also share their dotfiles as they contain super useful tools and shortcuts that make developing easier. An example of a site dedicated to sharing dotfiles is http://dotfiles.org.

Fun dotfiles fact!

The legend goes that dotfiles arose from a bug in the earliest days of UNIX: in an effort to avoid listing the . and .. entries of a directory, the ls command skipped files that began with the . character. As a result, any file with a name beginning with . was not reported by ls, i.e. it was a "hidden" file. A user's home directory was a convenient place to put user-specific configuration files, but such files were also an eyesore; one popular solution to this problem was to make those configuration files hidden so that they wouldn't annoy the user. Thus, the tradition of dotfiles was born.

Using this repo

Fork this repo to create your own dotfiles, then clone that. Or, if you're just setting up your computer and you don't have git yet:

First create a directory to store your dotfiles.

cd ~/Projects
mkdir dotfiles

Then download these dotfiles and copy them into your dotfiles directory.

cd dotfiles
curl -L https://api.github.com/repos/beerecca/dotfiles/tarball | tar xz --strip=1

Installing homebrew

Homebrew is a package manager for macOS. This repo includes a list of packages that are useful to install straight away.

First install brew. Then install the brew packages defined in the Brewfile in this repo:

brew bundle --file _homebrew/Brewfile

Installing the dotfiles packages

Each of the folders in this repo is a "dotfiles package". They contain configuration files and scripts that are useful when using that tool. They also each include a README with more info and suggestions. You can use stow to easily install (symlink) these packages into your $HOME directory.

If you followed the homebrew step stow will have already been installed. If not run: brew install stow.

Copy the .stowrc.example in the stow directory:

cd stow
cp .stowrc.example .stowrc

Now set the --target property in that file to point to your $HOME directory. e.g. --target=/Users/gertrude. This file creates the default command line options for when you run stow.

Then, from the root of your dotfiles folder, run the following command to create a symlink for all the files in this repo's stow folder to your home directory (aka the target, aka ~, aka /Users/gertrude).

stow -t ~ stow

Then run stow on each of the folders in this repo that you want to use. Any folders prefixed with an underscore are not intended for stowing.

stow bash
stow git
stow vim

Read more about using stow for dotfiles.

Running the macos script Run bash .macos to configure lots of handy settings for your Mac.

Editing the dotfiles packages

If you want to edit your dotfiles, always do so in the dotfiles project where you originally cloned this repo. Then run restow to update the symlinks and restart your terminal.

Congrats!

You have your very own dotfiles! Add or edit your own configurations to your heart's content. Each folder in this repo has a readme that will explain how to do so, and include links for further references.