I’m looking for recommendations for a dotfile manager - there are so many out there I’ve got a bit of options paralysis!

I’d like a system that can backup all my dotfiles - with version management - and, if I nuked my home directory, could restore them all for me with a simple command.

Thanks in advance for you suggestions!

  • bitsplease@lemmy.ml
    9·
    2 years ago

    Git and a script file that’s basically just a ton of ln - s commands

    I honestly don’t think I’ve ever found myself wanting more

  • conrad82@lemmy.world
    7·
    2 years ago

    I used yadm for a while and liked it. It is a git wrapper that makes git’ing your home folder for config files less messy

    https://yadm.io/

    Now I don’t care so much for keeping settings anymore and use mainly vanilla settings, therefore I stopped using it

  • adONis@lemmy.world
    7·
    2 years ago

    nuking your home directory

    Imho, in that case, you should look int a more proper backup strategy to restore all your files, not just your configs.

    • daddyjones@lemmy.worldOP
      2·
      2 years ago

      Thanks - yes I do have that, but I also wanted something specific to my dotfiles to make management and restoration a bit easier.

      • adONis@lemmy.world
        3·
        2 years ago

        I have a vorta backup, running on a regular basis for my home dir which has GBs of data.

        Mounting and restoring files is literally a matter of seconds.

        But if you want something that you can easily take with you, you can go with a symlink/git approach:

        • have a folder “configs”
        • move all your dotfiles thst have NO sensitive data like credentials into that folder
        • symlink them into their proper place
        • use GIT to track them and push them to a git repo

        Once you need them somewhere else, it’s just a git pull away… easy as that.

        What I dislike about existing solutions, is they come with their own binaries, conventions, and stuff, but basically do almost the same… this is the “raw way” that will hold up on any system, and almost all of them have git.

  • GustavoM@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    2 years ago

    cp -r to an external drive. And cp -r back in case something goes wrong.

    I know, it’s boring and no way “modern”. But hey, it works and it does not require internet access!

  • aairey@lemmy.world
    3·
    2 years ago

    dotdrop, because different dotfiles per OS/hist is supported (I am usingfedora, Ubuntu, Debian, macOS but you can configure it as you wish).

  • boblin@feddit.de
    3·
    2 years ago

    a git repository configured to ignore basically everything except the dotfiles. For my sway config I load configs from a symlinked folder, which points to a different config depending on the machine being configured.

  • manned_meatball@lemmy.mlEnglish
    2·
    2 years ago

    My own intricate system of 4 git repos to manage dotfiles, bash initialization, cli tools/scripts, and system state.

    The last one keeps track of installed packages and “dotfiles” out of the home directory (system config files like /etc/hosts).