dotctl 1.0.8

A powerful CLI tool to profile your OS by saving, applying, exporting, and importing system configurations as named profiles. Designed to manage dot files and service configurations in a centralized Git repository (local or remote), dotctl enables seamless system replication across machines. Supports pre/post hook scripts, making it ideal for setting up servers or desktops with consistent environments.

DotCtl

dotctl is a powerful CLI tool to manage, save, apply, export, and import system configurations as named profiles.
It helps centralize dotfiles and service configurations in Git repositories for seamless replication across systems.

Designed for developers and sysadmins, it supports pre/post hook scripts and is ideal for setting up consistent environments across desktops and servers.

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📚 Table of Contents

• DotCtl
  • 📚 Table of Contents
  • 🚀 Features
  • 📁 Profile Config Structure (dotctl.yaml)
    • 🧠 Concept Overview
    • 🗝 Available Path Keys
    • ✅ Example: Minimal Config
    • 💻 Real World: Full Ubuntu + KDE Config
    • 📦 Profile Usage Flow (e.g., nginx)
  • 🔄 Profile Workflow Diagram
  • 📊 Profile Block Table
  • 🔁 Example Workflow Table
  • 🔧 Installation
  • 📘 Usage
  • 🛠️ Commands
    • 📁 init
    • 💾 save
    • 📋 list / ls
    • 🔀 switch / sw
    • 🆕 create / new
    • ❌ remove / rm / delete / del
    • 🧪 apply
    • 📤 export
    • 📥 import
    • 🔥 wipe
  • 🧑‍💻 Development & Publishing
    • Setup Development Environment
    • Test the new code
    • Build the Package
    • Publish to TestPyPI
    • Publish to PyPI
  • 🙋 Contact

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🚀 Features

• 📦 Profile Management — Create, switch, save, remove, and apply system profiles.
• 🌀 Pre/Post Hooks — Run scripts before or after activating a profile (e.g., install packages, restart services).
• 🔄 Git Integration — Sync profiles with local or remote Git repositories.
• 📁 Portable Configs — Export/import profiles using .dtsv files for easy backups and sharing.
• ⚙️ Custom Configs — Define tracking rules via dotctl.yaml.

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📁 Profile Config Structure (dotctl.yaml)

The dotctl.yml config file defines what files and directories to track, save, and export as part of a system profile. This enables seamless migration, sharing, and restoration of system configs and personalizations—perfect for dotfiles, apps, or entire setups like KDE.

🧠 Concept Overview

The config has two main sections:

• save:
  Specifies config files or directories that should be version-controlled (typically small files like dotfiles).
  These are committed to Git and restored via dotctl apply.
• export:
  For large or non-versioned files (like fonts, themes, or binaries) that shouldn't go into Git, but you still want to package and move using dotctl export/import.
  This is helpful in offline environments or when syncing across machines.

Each section can define any number of data blocks, and every block contains:

• location: A base directory (like $HOME or $CONFIG_DIR).
• entries: A list of files/directories to include relative to the location.

🗝 Available Path Keys

To simplify path definitions, these keys can be used in location:

Key	Path
$HOME	/home/<user>
$APP_DIR	~/.dotctl
$CONFIG_DIR	~/.config
$SHARE_DIR	~/.local/share
$BIN_DIR	~/.local/bin
$SYS_SHARE_DIR	/usr/share
$SYS_CONFIG_DIR	/etc

Use them to make profiles portable across systems.

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✅ Example: Minimal Config

save:
  configs:
    location: $HOME
    entries:
      - test.txt

export:
  share_folder:
    location: $HOME/.local/share
    entries: []
  home_folder:
    location: $HOME/
    entries: []

---

💻 Real World: Full Ubuntu + KDE Config

save:
  configs:
    location: $CONFIG_DIR
    entries:
      - gtk-2.0
      - gtk-3.0
      - gtk-4.0
      - Kvantum
      - latte
      - dolphinrc
      - konsolerc
      - kcminputrc
      - kdeglobals
      - kglobalshortcutsrc
      - klipperrc
      - krunnerrc
      - kscreenlockerrc
      - ksmserverrc
      - kwinrc
      - kwinrulesrc
      - plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc
      - plasmarc
      - plasmashellrc
      - gtkrc
      - gtkrc-2.0
      - lattedockrc
      - breezerc
      - oxygenrc
      - lightlyrc
      - ksplashrc
      - khotkeysrc
      - autostart

  app_layouts:
    location: $HOME/.local/share/kxmlgui5
    entries:
      - dolphin
      - konsole

  home_folder:
    location: $HOME/
    entries:
      - .zshrc
      - .p10k.zsh

  sddm_configs:
    location: $SYS_CONFIG_DIR
    entries:
      - sddm.conf.d

export:
  home_folder:
    location: $HOME/
    entries:
      - .fonts
      - .themes
      - .icons
      - .wallpapers
      - .conky
      - .zsh
      - .bin
      - bin

  share_folder:
    location: $SHARE_DIR
    entries:
      - plasma
      - kwin
      - konsole
      - fonts
      - kfontinst
      - color-schemes
      - aurorae
      - icons
      - wallpapers

  root_share_folder:
    location: $SYS_SHARE_DIR
    entries:
      - plasma
      - kwin
      - konsole
      - fonts
      - kfontinst
      - color-schemes
      - aurorae
      - icons
      - wallpapers
      - Kvantum
      - themes

  sddm:
    location: $SYS_SHARE_DIR/sddm
    entries:
      - themes

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📦 Profile Usage Flow (e.g., nginx)

For a service like nginx, your profile might:

• save: files like /etc/nginx/nginx.conf, /etc/nginx/sites-*
• Include a pre-hook to install nginx (apt-get install -y nginx)
• Use a post-hook to reload the service (systemctl reload nginx)

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🔄 Profile Workflow Diagram

This diagram shows the typical lifecycle of using a dotctl profile, from saving configs to applying them on another machine:

            ┌──────────────┐
            │  dotctl.yml  │
            └──────┬───────┘
                   │
         ┌─────────▼──────────┐
         │  `save` Section    │  ◄──── Config Files
         └────────┬───────────┘
                  │
         ┌────────▼───────────┐
         │  dotctl save       │
         └────────┬───────────┘
                  │
                  ▼
         Push to Git Repository
                  │
                  ▼
        ┌─────────────────────┐
        │  Transfer to New PC │
        └────────┬────────────┘
                 │
         ┌───────▼──────────┐
         │  dotctl apply    │
         └───────┬──────────┘
                 │
     ┌───────────▼────────────┐
     │ Pre-hook (e.g. install)│
     └───────────┬────────────┘
                 ▼
     Apply saved config files
                 │
  ┌──────────────▼─────────────────┐
  │ Post-hook (e.g. restart/reload)│
  └────────────────────────────────┘

                 │
                 ▼
        ┌─────────────────────┐
        │     dotctl export   │
        └────────┬────────────┘
                 ▼
          Create `.dtsv` file
                 │
        Transfer `.dtsv` file
                 ▼
        ┌─────────────────────┐
        │     dotctl import   │
        └─────────────────────┘

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📊 Profile Block Table

Section	Field	Description
save	location	Base path of the tracked files (can use key like $CONFIG_DIR)
	entries	List of files/folders to track under that location
export	location	Base path of export files (e.g., large assets not suited for Git)
	entries	List of assets or binaries to package in .dtsv

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🔁 Example Workflow Table

Action	Command	Description
Save configs	dotctl save	Pulls files defined in save and stores in repo
Export assets	dotctl export	Package large, non-Git assets into .dtsv file
Transfer assets	scp profile.dtsv ...	Manually copy to another machine
Import assets	dotctl import	Unpack .dtsv on another system
Apply profile	dotctl apply	Pull from repo, run pre/post hooks, and apply saved configs

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🔧 Installation

pip install dotctl

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📘 Usage

dotctl [OPTIONS] <COMMAND> [ARGS]

Run dotctl -h for global help or dotctl <COMMAND> -h for command-specific help.

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🛠️ Commands

📁 init

Initialize a new profile.

dotctl init [-h] [-u <git-url>] [-p <profile>] [-c <config-path>] [-e <env>]

Examples:

dotctl init -e kde
dotctl init -u https://github.com/user880/dots.git -p mydesktop
dotctl init -c ./my_custom_config.yaml

Options:

• -e, --env – Target environment (e.g., kde, gnome, server).
• -u, --url – Git URL to clone profile from.
• -p, --profile – Activate this profile after init.
• -c, --config – Path to custom YAML config.

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💾 save

Save current system state to the active profile.

dotctl save [-h] [-p <password>] [--skip-sudo] [profile]

Examples:

dotctl save
dotctl save my_web_server --skip-sudo
dotctl save my_web_server -p mYsecretp@ssw0rd

Options:

• --skip-sudo – Ignore restricted resources.
• -p, --password – Password for restricted resources.

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📋 list / ls

List all profiles.

dotctl list [-h] [--details] [--fetch]

Examples:

dotctl list
dotctl list --details
dotctl list --fetch

Options:

• --details – Show extended info.
• --fetch – Refresh remote data.

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🔀 switch / sw

Switch to another profile.

dotctl switch [-h] [--fetch] [profile]

Examples:

dotctl switch MyProfile
dotctl sw MyProfile --fetch

Options:

• --fetch – Refresh profile info before switching.

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🆕 create / new

Create a new, empty profile.

dotctl create [-h] [--fetch] [-c <path>] [-e <env>] profile

Examples:

# Create a new profile from current active profile.
dotctl create myserver

# Create a empty new profile from a specific environment.
dotctl create -e kde

# Create a empty new profile from a custom config.
dotctl create -c ./my_custom_config.yaml

Options:

• --fetch – Sync with remote before creating.
• -c, --config – Path to custom YAML config.
• -e, --env – Target environment (e.g., kde, gnome, server).

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❌ remove / rm / delete / del

Remove a profile locally and/or remotely.

dotctl remove [-h] [-y] [--fetch] <profile>

Examples:

dotctl rm MyProfile
dotctl del MyProfile --fetch
dotctl del MyProfile -y

Options:

• --fetch – Refresh data before removal.
• -y, --no-confirm – Skip confirmation prompt.

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🧪 apply

Apply a saved profile.

dotctl apply [-h] [-p <password>] [--skip-sudo] [--skip-hooks] [--skip-pre-hooks] [--skip-post-hooks] [--ignore-hook-errors] [--hooks-timeout <timeout>] [profile]

Examples:

dotctl apply
dotctl apply mydesktop --skip-hooks
dotctl apply mydesktop --hooks-timeout 10
dotctl apply MyProfile --skip-pre-hooks --ignore-hook-errors

Options:

• --skip-sudo – Ignore restricted resources.
• --skip-hooks – Skip all hooks.
• --skip-pre-hooks – Skip only pre-hooks.
• --skip-post-hooks – Skip only post-hooks.
• --ignore-hook-errors – Don’t abort if hooks fail.
• --hooks-timeout – Timeout in seconds for hooks.
• -p, --password – Password for restricted actions.

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📤 export

Export a profile to .dtsv.

dotctl export [-h] [-p <password>] [--skip-sudo] [profile]

Examples:

dotctl export
dotctl export my_web_server --skip-sudo
dotctl export my_web_server -p mYsecretp@ssw0rd

Options:

• --skip-sudo, -p same as above.

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📥 import

Import a .dtsv profile.

dotctl import [-h] [-p <password>] [--skip-sudo] <file.dtsv>

Examples:

dotctl import my_web_server.dtsv
dotctl import /data/backup/web.dtsv --skip-sudo

Options:

• --skip-sudo, -p same as above.

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🔥 wipe

Remove all local profiles.

dotctl wipe [-h] [-y]

Examples:

dotctl wipe
dotctl wipe -y

Options:

• -y, --no-confirm – Do not prompt before wiping.

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🧑‍💻 Development & Publishing

Setup Development Environment

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # Linux/macOS
venv\Scripts\activate     # Windows

pip install -r requirements.txt

Test the new code

cd src
python -m dotctl.main --help
python -m dotctl.main new my_profile
python -m dotctl.main save
python -m dotctl.main apply

Build the Package

python -m build

Publish to TestPyPI

twine upload --repository testpypi dist/*

Publish to PyPI

twine upload --repository pypi dist/*

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🙋 Contact

• Maintainer: Pankaj Jackson
• Support: Open an Issue