Script that automates "dotfiles" tracking using git.
This is just basic configuration for tracking dotfiles with git. Main idea is taken from Arch Linux wiki and from this blog post: https://medium.com/@augusteo/simplest-way-to-sync-dotfiles-and-config-using-git-14051af8703a.
$ git init --bare ~/.dotfiles
$ alias config='/usr/bin/git --git-dir=$HOME/.dotfiles/ --work-tree=$HOME'
$ config config status.showUntrackedFiles no
Because not all of my desktop configs are not compatible between each other I can't just track one version of dotfiles. To manage this I create own branches for each machine or group of machines that can share same dotfiles. This requires that master branch is kept empty.
$ config checkout -b <desktop name>
$ config add ~/.bashrc
$ config commit -m "Add bashrc"
$ config remote add origin git@gitofchoice.com:yourname/dotfiles.git
$ config push -u origin <desktop name>
$ alias config='/usr/bin/git --git-dir=$HOME/.dotfiles/ --work-tree=$HOME
$ config config status.showUntrackedFiles no
$ git clone --bare git@gitofchoice.com:yourname/dotfiles.git $HOME/.dotfiles
$ config checkout -b <desktop name>
$ config add ~/.bashrc
$ config commit -m "Add bashrc"
$ config push -u origin <desktop name>
Even though basic setup works nicely I don't usually remember to commit changes when I edit something in tracked dotfiles. This is the problem that this python tool is trying to solve. There might be better existing solutions for this but at least it does what I need.
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Basic idea:
- Script takes list of dotfiles as an argument.
- These files are monitored for new write events using inotify library.
- When write event occurs file changes are pushed to git automatically. (This of course expects that ssh keys are setup for the git repo)
- Script is made for Python3
- Dependencies
pip3 install pyinotify psutil- Other libraries:
sys, os, argparse, subprocess
python src/dotfile_tracker.py -f "/home/myusername/.bashrc,/home/myusername/.config/i3/config" -u myusername -b machine_branch
Arguments explained
-f/--files <str/file>
List of files to track in following form: "/path/.file1,/path/.file/,/path/.etc".
If you have lots of files to track you can also create file were one line always includes path to one file.
Then just pass that file as an argument for -f option. E.g: python dotfile_tracker -f /home/u/.trackthese.
$ cat /home/m/.trackthese
/home/m/.bashrc
/home/m/.vimrc
/home/m/.emacs.d/init.el
/home/m/.config/i3/config
-u/--username
Your *nix username which is used to create working directory path and repository folder path (if not overridden).
-b/--branch
Git branch for pushing.
-p/--path(optional)
Script assumes that dotfiles repo is in path ~/.dotfiles.
You can override this with -p <absolute path>. Working directory is hard coded to /home/<given username>.
There's of course multiple options to run the script in baground. I do it by launching it in i3 config:
exec --no-startup-id python /home/m/git/DotfileTracker/src/dotfile_tracker.py -f /home/m/.trackthese -u m -b air1 >> /tmp/dotfiles.log &
Script uses a pidfile (/tmp/.dotfile_tracker.pid) to check if instance of script is already running so it shouldn't start duplicate processes.
$ python src/dotfile_tracker.py -f "/home/m/.bashrc,/home/m/.config/i3/config" -u m -b air1
[air1 b9a3b4f] dotfile_tracker update
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
Enumerating objects: 9, done.
Counting objects: 100% (9/9), done.
Delta compression using up to 4 threads
Compressing objects: 100% (4/4), done.
Writing objects: 100% (5/5), 434 bytes | 434.00 KiB/s, done.
Total 5 (delta 2), reused 0 (delta 0)
remote:
remote: To create a merge request for air1, visit:
remote: ...
remote:
To ...
d83ed80..b9a3b4f air1 -> air1
[!] Pushed changes in /home/m/.bashrc
- Vim
set backupcopy=yes is required so vim doesn't change inode of the file. Pyinotify can't follow file name.