This is the new dotfile management repository for my computers (Linux). I previously maintained an older version of this repository, but over time it got cluttered and out of hand. I also did not have a great method of easily linking the files on a new system. I had to manually make symlinks. I knew there were much better dotfiles setups out there, but I never got around to it.
One day, after seeing this post, I finally decided to sit down and clean up my dotfiles directory. I wanted to re-organize it so that I could use GNU Stow to initialize my dotfiles.
After setting it all up, I decided to just start from scratch with a new repository. This is that repo :).
If you haven't read it, I would highly suggest reading the post I have linked above. But in the meantime, I can provide a quick summary of how my dotfiles are setup.
Each application has an associated subdirectory (ex: dotfiles/emacs), which contains all of the dotfiles/folders associated with that application. I treat each application directory like my ~, and fill it with my configuration files. For example, my vim directory has my .vimrc, as well as my .vim/colors/ directory. This is so that when I use stow, it will properly place them as such in ~.
When I setup my dotfiles on a new system, or install an application that I have dotfiles saved for, setting them up is as easy as typing:
stow application-dir (ex: stow vim).
GNU Stow then links my dotfiles under my home directory. In my vim example, this means symlinks are created for ~/.vimrc and ~/.vim/colors/*, pointing to their respective locations in ~/dotfiles/vim/.
I think this setup is great, because initializing an application's directory is so simple, and I can choose to only initialize specific sub-directories.
In the future, I might make different branches of the repository for each of my computers, so I can maintain specific configurations. In theory, I could also just make different folders (ex vim-laptop and vim-server), but I like the branch idea better because it's a little easier for me to merge changes. We shall see.
Anyway, that's the new setup. Enjoy :-D