/dotfiles

My personal dotfiles and configuration scripts for bootstrapping a new Linux desktop environment.

Primary LanguageShell

My personal dotfiles and configuration scripts

This repository contains my personal dotfiles and Linux configuration scripts.

These were created so I can more easily migrate my development environment among Linux machines and easily wipe and reinstall my desktop operating system on a more frequent basis.

https://github.com/sedelmeyer/dotfiles/workflows/build/badge.svg?branch=master

Contents

About this repository

These are my personal dotfiles and linux configuration scripts.

This repository is structured as such:

dotfiles/
├── deprecated/ <-  No longer used v0.1.0 MacOS install files
├── docs/       <-  Configuration details and notes
├── dotfiles/   <-  System dotfiles
├── Makefile    <-  Make commands providing a simplified CLI
├── README.rst  <-  You're reading it, right now!
└── scripts/    <-  Scripts used to automate setup

0. Prerequisites

The scripts and settings specified in this repository are written specifically for use on Ubuntu 18.04. Feel free to fork, copy, or use them yourself. Just be warned, your mileage may vary depending on your specific Linux distribution and your specified configuration preferences.

If you are installing Linux on an Apple manufactured laptop or desktop, please read about the Apple-specific issue fixes outlined on this page prior to installing Ubuntu (or any Linux distribution) on your machine. In particular, you will want to take the required steps to permanently silence the Mac boot chime prior to erasing MacOS from your machine.

1. Ubuntu Installation

When installing Ubuntu 18.04, here are the general steps along with some reasonable options to select during the installation process:

  1. Insert bootable USB with Ubuntu 18.04
  2. Restart and press F12 when on startup screen
  3. Select language and keyboard layout
  4. Connect to WiFi
  5. Select "Minimal" installation to prevent default packages from being installed (in favor of selecting our own defaults during later configuration)
  6. Choose to download updates while installing
  7. Select the option to install 3rd party software
  8. Configure Secure Boot
  9. Select "erase disk and install Ubuntu"
  10. Encrypt the new Ubuntu installation (the installer will requires you to also use LVM)
  11. Install and restart (monitor your machine while it restarts so that you can enroll MOK when the option appears)
  12. After restart and sign-in, the Software Updater will likely appear asking if you'd like to install new updates. Do it!

1.1. Solving hardware-specific issues

There are any number of issues that might need fixing, dependent on your specific hardware. Below are some I've encountered.

1.1.1 Fix grub suspend loop issue

This may be the issue if, after waking your laptop from suspend mode, it continuously returns you to the lock screen after several seconds of use. Try this for a possible solution:

sudo vi /etc/default/grub

Edit the following line as such:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash button.lid_init_state=open"

Save and close the file, then run:

sudo update-grub
shutdown -r now

Stick around while it reboots to make certain no additional MOK management is needed.

2. Configure new installation using this repository

In order to use the configuration scripts in this repository, either download the entire repository to the newly install Ubuntu machine or git clone it like so with HTTPS:

sudo apt install git
git clone https://github.com/sedelmeyer/dotfiles.git

After cloning the repository cd into it (i.e. cd dotfiles/) and use the make commands to run the appropriate bash installation scripts. If for some reason your Linux installation does not include the make application, you can run sudo apt install make prior to running the install scripts.

Please note: A future version of this repository will include a better make workflow for configuring a newly installed system. But, until then, a new system can best be configured by running each make command outlined below in the following order:

2.1. Install all required packages

The following make commands install all desired packages. The scripts associated with each make command are separated based on the installation sources for each set of packages.

make apt
This command runs the install_apt.sh script in order to install packages available in Ubuntu's package directory. Prior to running this command, please review the packages specified in the install_apt.sh script and modify that list to include only the packages you wish to have installed.
make conda
This command runs the install_conda.sh script in order to install the latest version of Anaconda, Inc's (prev. Continuum Analytics) Miniconda distribution, providing both the latest vesion of Python and the conda package manager.
make docker
This command runs the install_docker.sh script to install the latest version of Docker CE on your system.
make pip
This command runs the install_pip.sh script and --user installs desired Python packages such as pipenv, cookiecutter, and docker-compose.
make vscode
This command runs the install_vscode.sh script and installs the Visual Studio Code IDE and all desired extensions.
make abcde
This command runs the install_abcde.sh script and installs the ABCDE (A Better CD Encoder) package for ripping music CDs. While this package is available in the Ubuntu package repository, the version available for Bionic (i.e. Ubuntu 18.04) is outdated and incompatible with the current MusicBrainz web API. Therefore, this script manually installs the latest version of abcde along with its dependencies. For more info on this package, please see: https://abcde.einval.com/wiki/
make dropbox
This command runs the install_dropbox.sh script and installs the official Dropbox daemon and command line application. For more information on Dropbox setup on Linux, please see https://www.dropbox.com/install?os=lnx and https://ostechnix.com/install-dropbox-in-ubuntu-18-04-lts-server/. You will want to have access to a web browser to complete Dropbox set-up on your machine.
make zoom
This command runs the install_zoom.sh script to download and install the latest version Zoom .deb package from the official Zoom website. Additional information on this install process can be found here: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/204206269-Installing-Zoom-on-Linux
make source
This command runs the install_source.sh script and installs, by default, the packages light from https://github.com/haikarainen/light and st from https://github.com/sedelmeyer/st. Source code for these packages are downloaded to ~/Code/source/ and the packages are then installed directly from that source.
make bin
This command runs the install_bin.sh script and installs custom executable scripts from this repo's bin/ directory to /usr/local/bin/ on the local machine.
make services
This command runs the install_systemd.sh script and configures, starts, and enables systemd user services. Available systemd services can be viewed in this repo's systemd/user/ directory.
make macpro
This command runs the install_macpro.sh script and executes system fixes required for a MacBook Pro 13" Mid 2009 (i.e. MacBookPro5,5) to function as desired while running Ubuntu 18.04. This includes setting the hid_apple.conf with fnmode=2 so that F* keys require the use of the Fn key to use special keys (i.e. brightness, volume, etc.). It also includes an EFI fix to resolve the Failed to Set MokListRT warning at when the system boots. A reboot is required after running make macpro.

2.2. Configure system settings

Most system settings in Ubuntu 18.04 can be configured via the Gnome settings (i.e. gsettings) command. The following make command sets all of those settings based on what is specified in the corresponding script.

make settings
This command runs the install_settings.sh script and sets Ubuntu gsettings for various attributes of the operating system.

2.3. Configure user dotfiles

Please inspect the dotfiles contained in this repository's dotfiles/ subdirectory. These include very Vim-centric settings for various applications. If you are not a Vim user, you will likely dislike much of the configuration outlined in these dotfiles.

make dots
This command runs the install_dots.sh script and generates matching symlinks in your HOME (i.e. ~/) directory for each specified dotfile. If your HOME directory already contains one of these dotfiles, your existing dotfile will be dated and renamed rather than overwriting it. In its place, a new symlink will be generated.

2.3.1. Install Vim plugins

After running make dots, you will want to make certain that all Vim plugins specified in .vimrc get installed. To accomplish this, open vim and run the follow command from within Vim:

:PlugInstall

2.4. Configure TensorFlow NVIDIA GPU support

If your machine has a CUDA-enabled NVIDIA graphics card and you are a TensorFlow user, you may want to enable that card to speed up processing for your deep learning algorithms. Note however, that this is a 2-part script and a restart of your system is required between the first and second script.

make cuda1
This command runs the install_cuda1.sh script and adds the required NVIDIA package repositories and installs a compatible NVIDIA driver.

After running make cuda1 and restarting your system, you should now run nvidia-smi to check that your GPU(s) are visible to your system and that you are running the appropriate version NVIDIA driver (currently version 450). If all looks good, run the second Cuda script make command.

make cuda2
This command runs the install_cuda2.sh script and installs the development and runtime libraries (~4GB) and TensorRT.

2.4.1 Switch between NVIDIA and Intel graphics

Once the cuda1 and cuda2 scripts have been run, feel free to turn off the NVIDIA graphic card when it is not in use for more efficient battery use. This can be accomplished by using the prime-select command as follows...

To see whether NVIDIA or Intel graphics are in use:

prime-select query

To turn off NVIDIA in favor of Intel (more efficient power use):

prime-select intel

To turn NVIDIA back on:

prime-select nvidia

Note: You will need to restart your system in order for any graphics card changes to take effect.

Testing and continuous cntegration (CI) for this repository

Remote CI with GitHub Actions

This repository is configured to use GitHub Actions as a continuous integration (CI) service to test that the install scripts and associated make commands function without error. There is however a limitation, where hardware dependent scripts cannot be successfully run under CI. This includes the multi-part CUDA installation scripts, which require a reboot between each consecutive script. Additionally, the systemd user services install scrip also cannot be run, because it will fail with the Failed to connect to bus: No such file or directory error. This is becuase systemctl talks to the systemd daemon by using the d-bus, and in the test container (on both GitHub Actions and the local Docker container described below), there is no daemon.

Local testing with Docker

The scripts and dotfiles in this repository can be tested locally using the provided Dockerfile. This Dockerfile builds an official Ubuntu 18.04 image with a default test user. To build this Docker image with the current master branch of this repository cloned to it and then run it, run this command from the base directory of this repo:

docker build --tag dotfiles .

Alternatively, if you are trying to test functionality for a specific branch of this repository, first ensure changes to that branch are pushed to GitHub, and then run the following command to build the Docker image with that particular branch cloned to it:

docker build --tag dotfiles --build-arg GIT_BRANCH={branch-name} .

Then, to run your Docker image interactively so that you can run your scripts from within it:

docker run --rm -it dotfiles

If you are a podman user instead of docker, I am sure you already know that you can easily use the same commands as shown above, except use "podman" in place of "docker" for each command.

Other documentation included in this repository

Included in the docs/ sub-directory in this repository is additional useful documentation covering specific systems and topics. Currently available documents are linked below:

  • Installation notes for MacBookPro5,5
    This document contains Linux install instructions specific to the MacBook Pro 13" late-2009. Some of the items in this document will be common to other Apple machines, some might not be. Regardless, this is an important document to review prior to installing Linux on an Apple-manufactured machine, because there is an initial step that should be taken prior to wiping MacOS off of the machine.
  • Recovering data from a LUKS encrypted LVM drive
    This document contains instructions for mounting a LUKS encrypted drive that was set up using LVM logical volumes. This is particularly applicable to recovering data from a hard drive you may have been using as the primary drive for a different Linux machine. A specific use case for this might be recovering data from the drive of a machine that might have experienced a motherboard failure, but for which the hard drive was encrypted and still in good working condition.

Other related resources