When you change computer or distribution regularly, it’s not very convenient to copy your configuration files by hand. There are lots of solutions to automate the process, but I decided to use the one I saw in this article as I find it rather simple and elegant. The only tool needed is git (with an associated repository).

Table of contents

• Instructions
• Replication
• Manage files

Instructions

First of all, you need to have git installed and have created a repository on the platform of your choice (Github on my side).

Then run the commands :

git init --bare ~/.dotfiles
alias config='git --git-dir=$HOME/.dotfiles/ --work-tree=$HOME'
config config status.showUntrackedFiles no
config remote add origin <url-to-git-repository>

The second command can be inserted into the file where aliases are declared on our machine for persistence (probably .bashrc or .zshrc).

And that’s all !

Replication

To replicate your configuration :

alias config='git --git-dir=$HOME/.dotfiles/ --work-tree=$HOME'
git clone --bare <git-repo-url> ~/.dotfiles
config checkout
config config status.showUntrackedFiles no

Manage files

To manage your dotfiles :

config status
config add <file>
config commit -m <message>
config push

To retrieve your modifications from another computer :

config pull