Dotfile

Dotfile is a version control system designed for dotfiles. It aliases file paths to short names and provides an interface to manage file state. Use a remote server like dotfilehub.com to push, pull, or find new files.

Why Dotfile?

Most existing solutions are built on some combination of git/stow/symlinks. This introduces the complexities and potential pitfalls of these tools. Git is designed for a directory of related files, whereas dotfiles are often scattered unrelated files.

Dotfile is a self contained system designed from the ground up to make managing single files as simple as possible. Files are stored in their normal locations on disk without any symbolic links. Dotfile doesn’t care if tracked files are moved or edited with external tools.

Advantages over git based systems:

Not limited to one parent directory - initialize any file, even outside $HOME
No merge conflicts
Pull or push a single file instead of the entire repo
Revert a single file to a past revision without affecting other files
Easily rewrite or delete file history
Simple web interface for managing files remotely

Things Dotfile doesn’t do:

File encryption
Manage non text files
Manage large files
Templates
Branches

Getting Started

Install the CLI
Create a Dotfilehub account to share files between machines
Setup the CLI to use remote functions

Optionally self host a Dotfilehub instance.

Documentation

Examples

Dotfile commands are like git but simplified.

Check a file in:

dotfile init ~/.bashrc

This creates an initial commit. Dotfile will store the path of the file and give it a default alias of bashrc. Use the alias to refer to it at anytime.

Open ~/.bashrc in $EDITOR:

dotfile edit bashrc

Check the diff after making changes:

dotfile diff bashrc

Commit new changes:

dotfile commit bashrc "Add dotfile alias"

View commit history:

dotfile log bashrc

Revert its uncommitted changes:

dotfile checkout -f bashrc

Push to a remote server:

dotfile push bashrc

Install all of your dotfiles:

dotfile pull --all

Contribute

Want to contribute? Open a pull request or an issue at github.com/knoebber/dotfile

Feedback is always appreciated - contact me at knoebber@gmail.com