dotfiles 0.5.0

Easily manage your dotfiles

Dotfile management made easy
============================

``dotfiles`` is a tool to make managing your dotfile symlinks in ``$HOME``
easy, allowing you to keep all your dotfiles in a single directory.

Hosting is up to you. Using whatever VCS you prefer, or even rsync, you can
easily distribute your dotfiles repository across multiple hosts.

Interface
---------

``-a, --add <file...>``
Add dotfile(s) to the repository.

``-c, --check``
Check for missing or unmanged dotfiles.

``-l, --list``
List currently managed dotfiles, one per line.

``-r, --remove <file...>``
Remove dotfile(s) from the repository.

``-s, --sync``
Update dotfile symlinks. You can overwrite unmanaged files with ``-f`` or
``--force``.

``-m, --move``
Move dotfiles repository to another location.

Installation
------------

To install dotfiles, simply: ::

$ pip install dotfiles

Or, if you absolutely must: ::

$ easy_install dotfiles

But, you really shouldn't do that.

If you want to work with the latest version, you can install it from `the
repository`_::

$ git clone https://github.com/jbernard/dotfiles
$ cd dotfiles
$ ./bin/dotfiles --help

Examples
--------

To install your dotfiles on a new machine, you might do this: ::

$ git clone https://github.com/me/my-dotfiles Dotfiles
$ dotfiles --sync

To add '~/.vimrc' to your repository: ::

$ dotfiles --add ~/.vimrc (relative paths work also)

To make it available to all your hosts: ::

$ cd ~/Dotfiles
$ git add vimrc
$ git commit -m "Added vimrc, welcome aboard!"
$ git push

You get the idea. Type ``dotfiles --help`` to see the available options.

Configuration
-------------

You can choose to create a configuration file to store personal customizations.
By default, ``dotfiles`` will look for ``~/.dotfilesrc``. You can change this
with the ``-C`` flag. An example configuration file might look like: ::

[dotfiles]
repository = ~/Dotfiles
ignore = [
'.git',
'.gitignore',
'*.swp']
externals = {
'.bzr.log': '/dev/null',
'.uml': '/tmp'}

You can also store your configuration file inside your repository. Put your
settings in ``.dotfilesrc`` at the root of your repository and ``dotfiles`` will
find it. Note that ``ignore`` and ``externals`` are appended to any values
previously discovered.

Prefixes
--------

Dotfiles are stored in the repository with no prefix by default. So,
``~/.bashrc`` will link to ``~/Dotfiles/bashrc``. If your files already have a
prefix, ``.`` is common, but I've also seen ``_``, then you can specify this
in the configuration file and ``dotfiles`` will do the right thing. An example
configuration in ``~/.dotfilesrc`` might look like: ::

[dotfiles]
prefix = .

Externals
---------

You may want to link some dotfiles to external locations. For example, ``bzr``
writes debug information to ``~/.bzr.log`` and there is no easy way to disable
it. For that, I link ``~/.bzr.log`` to ``/dev/null``. Since ``/dev/null`` is
not within the repository, this is called an external. You can have as many of
these as you like. The list of externals is specified in the configuration
file: ::

[dotfiles]
externals = {
'.bzr.log': '/dev/null',
'.adobe': '/tmp',
'.macromedia': '/tmp'}

Ignores
-------

If you're using a VCS to manage your repository of dotfiles, you'll want to
tell ``dotfiles`` to ignore VCS-related files. For example, I use ``git``, so
I have the following in my ``~/.dotfilesrc``: ::

[dotfiles]
ignore = [
'.git',
'.gitignore',
'*.swp']

Any file you list in ``ignore`` will be skipped. The ``ignore`` option supports
glob file patterns.

Contribute
----------

If you'd like to contribute, simply fork `the repository`_, commit your
changes to the **develop** branch (or branch off of it), and send a pull
request. Make sure you add yourself to AUTHORS_.

.. _`the repository`: https://github.com/jbernard/dotfiles
.. _AUTHORS: https://github.com/jbernard/dotfiles/blob/master/AUTHORS.rst


License
-------

ISC License. ::

Copyright (c) 2011, Jon Bernard <[e-mail]>

Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any
purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.


History
-------

0.5.0
+++++

* Add support for in-repo configuration files

0.4.4
+++++

* Restore python 2.5 compatibility

0.4.3
+++++

* Add glob style pattern support for the ignore option

0.4.2
+++++

* Fix bug when syncing an unmanaged directory symlink