My dotfiles for configuring literally everything (automatically!)
One of the beautiful things about Linux, is how easily customizable everything is. Usually these custom configurations are stored in files that start with a dot (hence dotfiles!), and typically located in your users home ~
, or better yet ~/.config
(even this can be customized, for apps that respect the XDG Base Directory spec). Some examples of dotfiles that you're likely already familiar with include .gitconfig
, .zshrc
or .vimrc
.
You will often find yourself tweaking your configs over time, so that your system perfectly matches your needs. It makes sense to back these files up, so that you don't need to set everything up from scratch each time you enter a new environment. Git is a near-perfect system for this, as it allows for easy roll-backs, branches and it's well supported with plenty of hosting options (like here on GitHub).
Once everything's setup, you'll be able to SSH into a fresh system or reinstall your OS, then just run your script and go from zero to feeling at right at home within a minute or two.
It's not hard to create your own dotfile repo, it's great fun and you'll learn a ton along the way!
By using a dotfile system, you can set up a brand new machine in minutes, keep settings synced across multiple environments, easily roll-back changes, and never risk loosing your precious config files.
This is important, because as a developer, we usually have multiple machines (work / personal laptops, cloud servers, virtual machines, some GH codespaces, maybe a few Pis, etc). And you're much more productive when working from a familiar environment, with all your settings applied just how you like them. But it would be a pain to have to set each of these machines up manually. Even if you've only got a single device, how much time would you loose if your data became lost or corrupted?
The location of most config files can be defined using the XDG base directory specification, which is honored by most apps. This lets you specify where config, log, cache and data files are stored, keeping your top-level home directory free from clutter. You can do this by setting environmental variables, usually within the .zshenv
file.
Variable | Location |
---|---|
XDG_CONFIG_HOME |
~/.config |
XDG_DATA_HOME |
~/.local/share |
XDG_BIN_HOME |
~/.local/bin |
XDG_LIB_HOME |
~/.local/lib |
XDG_CACHE_HOME |
~/.local/var/cache |
You can also containerize your dotfiles, meaning with a single command, you can spin up a fresh virtual environment on any system, and immediately feel right at home with all your configurations, packages, aliases and utils.
This is awesome for a number of reasons: 1) Super minimal dependency installation on the host 2) Blazing fast, as you can pull your built image from a registry, instead of compiling everything locally 3) Cross-platform compatibility, whatever your host OS is, you can always have a familiar Linux system in the container 4) Security, you can control which host resources are accessible within each container
For this, I'm using an Alpine-based Docker container defined in the Dockerfile
, to try it out, just run docker run lissy93/dotfiles
.
Other options could include spinning up VMs with a predefined config, either using something like Vagrant or a NixOS-based config.
Something that is important to keep in mind, is security. Often you may have some personal info included in some of your dotfiles. Before storing anything on the internet, double check there's no sensitive info, SSH keys, API keys or plaintext passwords. If you're using git, then any files you wouldn't want to be commited, can just be listed in your .gitignore
. If any .gitignore'd files are imported by other files, be sure to check they exist, so you don't get errors when cloning onto a fresh system.
Another solution, is to encrypt sensitive info. A great tool for this is pass
as it makes GPG-encrypting passwords very easy (this article outlines how), or you could also just use plain old GPG (as outlined in this article).
In terms of managing and applying your dotfiles, you can make things simple, or complex as you like.
The two most common approaches are be either symlinking, or using git bare repo, but you could also do things manually by writing a simple script.
Symlinks let you maintain all your dotfiles in a working directory, and then link them to the appropriate places on disk, sort of like shortcuts.
For example, if your dotfiles are in ~/Documents/dotfiles
, you could create a zshrc file there, and link it with:
ln -s ~/Documents/dotfiles/zsh/.zshrc ~/.zshrc
This would obviously get cumbersome very quickly if you had a lot of files, so you would really want to automate this process. You could either create your own script to do this, or use a tool specifically designed for this.
I personally use Dotbot, as it doesn't have any dependencies - just include it as a sub-module, define a list of links in a simple YAML file, and hit go. GNU Stow is also a popular choice, and it's usage is explained well in this article by Alex Pearce. There's many other tools which do a similar thing, like Homesick, Rcm, dotdrop or mackup.
Bare repositories let you add files from anywhere on your system, maintaining the original directory structure, and without the need for symlinks (learn more). Just initiialize or clone using the --bare
flag, then add a global alias to manage files with git.
# Initialise a new repo, or clone an existing one with the --bare flag
git init --bare $HOME/dotfiles
# Next create an alias that sets the directory to your dotfile (add to .zshrc/ .bashrc)
alias dotfiles='$(where git) --git-dir=$HOME/dotfiles/ --work-tree=$HOME'
# Hide untracked files
dotfiles config --local status.showUntrackedFiles no
Then, from anywhere in your system you can use your newly created alias to add, commit and push files to your repo using all the normal git commands, as well as pull them down onto another system.
dotfiles add ~/.config/my-file
dotfiles commit -m "A short message"
dotfiles push
Both Chezmoi and YADM are a dotfile management tools, which wrap bare git repo functionality, adding some additional QoL features.
To learn more, DistroTube made an excellent video about bare git repos, and Marcel KrΔah has written a post outlining the benefits.
In terms of managing dependencies, using either git submodules or git subtree will let you keep dependencies in your project, while also separate from your own code and easily updatable.
Zach Holman wrote a great article titled Dotfiles Are Meant to Be Forked. I personally disagree with this, since your dotfiles are usually highly personalized, so what's right for one developer, likely won't be what someone else is looking for. They're also typically something you build up over time, and although some repos may provide a great starting point, it's really important to know what everything does, and how it works.
By all means feel free to take what you want from mine. I've taken care to ensure that each file is standalone, and well documented so that certain files can just be dropped into any system. But I cannot stress enough the importance of reading through files to ensure it's actually what you want.
If you're looking for some more example dotfile repos to get you started, I can highly recommend taking a look at: @holman/dotfiles, @nickjj/dotfiles, @caarlos0/dotfiles, @cowboy/dotfiles, @drduh/config.
There's even more to check out at webpro/awesome-dotfiles, dotfiles.github.io and r/unixporn.
Warning Prior to running the setup script, read through everything and confirm it's what you want.
Let's Go!
bash <(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Lissy93/dotfiles/master/lets-go.sh)
This will execute the quick setup script (in lets-go.sh
), which just clones the repo (if not yet present), then executes the install.sh
script. You can re-run this at anytime to update the dotfiles. You can also optionally pass in some variables to change the install location (DOTFILES_DIR
) and source repo (DOTFILES_REPO
) to use your fork.
The install script does several things, it takes care of checking dependencies are met, updating dotfiles and symlinks, configuring CLI (Vim, Tmux, ZSH, etc), and will prompt the user to install listed packages, update the OS and apply any system preferences. The script is idempotent, so it can be run multiple times without changing the result, beyond the initial application.
Alternatively, you can clone the repo yourself, cd into it, allow execution of install.sh
then run it to install or update.
Example
git clone --recursive git@github.com:Lissy93/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles
chmod +x ~/.dotfiles/install.sh
~/.dotfiles/install.sh
You'll probably want to fork the repo, then clone your fork instead, so update the above commands with the path to your repo, and optionally change the clone location on your disk.
Once the repo is cloned, you can modify whatever files you like before running the install script. The Directory Structure section provides an overview of where each file is located. Then see the Configuring section for setting file paths and symlink locations.
~ βββ. βββ config/ # All configuration files β βββ bash/ # Bash (shell) config β βββ tmux/ # Tmux (multiplexer) config β βββ vim/ # Vim (text editor) config β βββ zsh/ # ZSH (shell) config β βββ macos/ # Config files for Mac-specific apps β βββ desktop-apps/ # Config files for GUI apps βββ scripts/ # Bash scripts for automating tasks β βββ installs/ # Scripts for software installation β β βββ Brewfile # Package installs for MacOS via Homebrew β β βββ arch-pacman.sh # Package installs for Arch via Pacman β β βββ flatpak.sh # Package installs for Linux desktops via Flatpak β βββ linux/ # Automated configuration for Linux β β βββ dconf-prefs.sh # Setting GNOME settings via dconf util β βββ macos-setup/ # Scripts for setting up Mac OS machines β βββ macos-apps.sh # Sets app preferences β βββ macos-prefs.sh # Sets MacOS system preferences β βββ macos-security.sh # Applies MacOS security and privacy settings βββ utils/ # Handy Shell utilitis for various day-to-day tasks βββ .github/ # Meta files for GitHub repo βββ lib/ # External dependencies, as git sub-modules βββ lets-go.sh # One-line remote installation entry point βββ install.sh # All-in-one install and setup script βββ symlinks.yml # List of symlink locations
The setup script (install.sh
) will do the following:
- Setup
- Print welcome message, and a summary of proposed changes, and prompt user to continue
- Ensure that core dependencies are met (git, zsh, vim)
- Set variables by reading any passed parameters, or fallback to sensible defaults (see
.zshenv
)
- Dotfiles
- If dotfiles not yet present, will clone from git, otherwise pulls latest changes
- Setup / update symlinks each file to it's correct location on disk
- System Config
- Checks default shell, if not yet set, will prompt to set to zsh
- Installs Vim plugins via Plug
- Installs Tmux plugins via TPM
- Installs ZSH plugins via Antigen
- Prompts to apply system preferences (for compatible OS / DE)
- On MacOS arranges apps into folders within the Launchpad view
- On MacOS prompts to set essential privacy + security settings
- On MacOS prompts to set system preferences and app settings
- App Installations
- On MacOS if Homebrew is not yet installed, will prompt to install it
- On MacOS will prompt to install user apps listed in Brewfile, via Homebrew
- On Linux will prompt to install listed CLI apps via native package manager (pacman or apt)
- On Linux desktop systems, will prompt to istall desktop apps via Flatpak
- Checks OS is up-to-date, prompts to install updates if available
- Finishing up
- Outputs time taken and a summary of changes applied
- Re-sources ZSH and refreshes current session
- Prints a pretty Tux ASCII picture
- Exits
The install script can accept several flags and environmental variables to configure installation:
- Flags
--help
- Prints help menu / shows info, without making any changes--auto-yes
- Doesn't prompt for any user input, always assumes Yes (use with care!)--no-clear
- Doesn't clear the screen before starting (useful if being run by another app)
- Env Vars
REPO_NAME
- The repository name to pull, e.g.Lissy93/Dotfiles
DOTFILES_DIR
- The directory to clone source dotfiles into
The locations for all symlinks are defined in symlinks.yaml
. These are managed using Dotbot, and will be applied whenever you run the install.sh
script. The symlinks set locations based on XDG paths, all of which are defined in .zshenv
.
An alias is simply a command shortcut. These are very useful for shortening long or frequently used commands.
How to use Aliases
For example, if you often find yourself typing git add .
you could add an alias like alias gaa='git add .'
, then just type gaa
. You can also override existing commands, for example to always show hidden files with ls
you could set alias ls='ls -a'
.
Aliases should almost always be created at the user-level, and then sourced from your shell config file (usually .bashrc
or .zshrc
). System-wide aliases would be sourced from /etc/profile
. Don't forget that for your changes to take effect, you'll need to restart your shell, or re-source the file containing your aliases, e.g. source ~/.zshrc
.
You can view a list of defined aliases by running alias
, or search for a specific alias with alias | grep 'search-term'
. The unalias
command is used for removing aliases.
All aliases in my dotfiles are categorised into files located in zsh/aliases/
which are imported in zsh/.zshrc
.
The following section lists all (or most) the aliases by category:
Git Aliases
Alias | Description |
---|---|
g |
git |
gs |
git status - List changed files |
ga |
git add - Add to the next commit |
gaa |
git add . - Add all changed files |
grm |
git rm - Remove |
gc |
git commit - Commit staged files, needs -m "" |
gcm |
git commit takes $1 as commit message |
gps |
git push - Push local commits to |
gpl |
git pull - Pull changes with |
gf |
git fetch - Download branch changes, without modifying files |
grb |
git rebase - Rebase the current HEAD into |
grba |
git rebase --abort - Cancel current rebase sesh |
grbc |
git rebase --continue - Continue onto next diff |
gm |
git merge - Merge into your current HEAD |
gi |
git init - Initiialize a new empty local repo |
gcl |
git clone - Downloads repo from |
gch |
git checkout - Switch the HEAD to |
gb |
git branch - Create a new from HEAD |
gd |
git diff - Show all changes to untracked files |
gtree |
git log --graph --oneline --decorate # Show branch tree |
gl |
git log |
gt |
git tag - Tag the current commit, 1 param |
gtl |
git tag -l - List all tags, optionally with pattern |
gtlm |
git tag -n - List all tags, with their messages |
gtp |
git push --tags - Publish tags |
gr |
git remote |
grs |
git remote show - Show current remote origin |
grl |
git remote -v - List all currently configured remotes |
grr |
git remote rm origin - Remove current origin |
gra |
git remote add - Add new remote origin |
grurl |
git remote set-url origin - Sets URL of existing origin |
guc |
git revert - Revert a |
gu |
git reset - Reset HEAD pointer to a , perserves changes |
gua |
git reset --hard HEAD - Resets all uncommited changes |
gnewmsg |
git commit --amend -m - Update of previous commit |
gclean |
git clean -df - Remove all untracked files |
glfsi |
git lfs install |
glfst |
git lfs track |
glfsls |
git lfs ls-files |
glfsmi |
git lfs migrate import --include= |
gplfs |
git lfs push origin "$(git_current_branch)" --all - Push LFS changes to current branch |
gj |
Find and cd into the root of your current project (based on where the .git directory |
clone |
Shorthand for clone, run clone user/repo , if user isn't specified will default to yourself |
gsync |
Sync fork against upstream repo |
gfrb |
Fetch, rebase and push updates to current branch. Optionally specify target, defaults to 'master' |
gignore |
Integrates with gitignore.io to auto-populate .gitignore file |
gho |
Opens the current repo + branch in GitHub |
ghp |
Opens pull request tab for the current GH repo |
Flutter Aliases
Alias | Description |
---|---|
fl |
flutter - Main fultter command |
flattach |
flutter attach - Attaches flutter to a running flutter application with enabled observatory |
flb |
flutter build - Build flutter application |
flchnl |
flutter channel - Switches flutter channel (requires input of desired channel) |
flc |
flutter clean - Cleans flutter project |
fldvcs |
flutter devices - List connected devices (if any) |
fldoc |
flutter doctor - Runs flutter doctor |
flpub |
flutter pub - Shorthand for flutter pub command |
flget |
flutter pub get - Installs dependencies |
flr |
flutter run - Runs flutter app |
flrd |
flutter run --debug - Runs flutter app in debug mode (default mode) |
flrp |
flutter run --profile - Runs flutter app in profile mode |
flrr |
flutter run --release - Runs flutter app in release mode |
flupgrd |
flutter upgrade - Upgrades flutter version depending on the current channel |
Node.js Aliases
Alias | Description |
---|---|
ys |
yarn start |
yt |
yarn test |
yb |
yarn build |
yl |
yarn lint |
yd |
yarn dev |
yp |
yarn publish |
yr |
yarn run |
ya |
yarn add |
ye |
yarn remove |
yi |
yarn install |
yg |
yarn upgrade |
yu |
yarn update |
yf |
yarn info |
yz |
yarn audit |
yc |
yarn autoclean |
yk |
yarn check |
yh |
yarn help |
yarn-nuke |
Removes node_modules, yarn.lock, package-lock.json and does a full fresh reinstall of dependencies |
yv |
Prints out the current version of Node.js, Yarn, NPM, NVM and git |
Alias | Description |
---|---|
npmi |
npm install |
npmu |
npm uninstall |
npmr |
npm run |
npms |
npm start |
npmt |
npm test |
npml |
npm run lint |
npmd |
npm run dev |
npmp |
npm publish |
npmo |
Opens NPM docs, either for the current package, or a specific dependency passes as param |
Alias | Description |
---|---|
nvmi |
nvm install |
nvmu |
nvm use |
nvml |
nvm ls |
nvmr |
nvm run |
nvme |
nvm exec |
nvmw |
nvm which |
nvmlr |
nvm ls-remote |
nvmlts |
nvm install --lts && nvm use --lts |
nvmlatest |
nvm install node --latest-npm && nvm use node |
nvmsetup |
Runs the NVM installation script, and sets up the NVM environment |
General Aliases
Alias | Description |
---|---|
a |
alias` |
c |
clear |
d |
date |
e |
exit |
f |
find |
g |
grep |
h |
history |
i |
id |
j |
jobs |
l |
ls |
m |
man |
p |
pwd |
s |
sudo |
t |
touch |
v |
vim |
Alias | Description |
---|---|
la |
ls -A - List all files/ includes hidden |
ll |
ls -lAFh - List all files, with full details |
lm |
ls -tA -1 - List files sorted by last modified |
lb |
ls -lhSA - List all files sorted by biggest |
lr |
ls -R - List files in sub-directories, recursivley |
lf |
ls -A | grep - Use grep to find files |
ln |
find . -type f | wc -l - Shows number of files |
ld |
ls -l | grep "^d" - List directories only |
la |
exa -aF --icons - List all files, including hidden (only if exa is installed) |
ll |
exa -laF --icons - Show files with all details (only if exa is installed) |
lm |
exa -lahr --color-scale --icons -s=modified - Sort by date modified, most revent first (only if exa is installed) |
lb |
exa -lahr --color-scale --icons -s=size - Sort by size largest first (only if exa is installed) |
tree |
f() { exa -aF --tree -L=${1:-2} --icons };f - List files as tree (only if exa is installed) |
lz |
List the contents of a specified compressed archive. Supported formats include zip, rar, tar, tar.gz and ace |
Alias | Description |
---|---|
mkcd |
Create new directory, and cd into it. Takes new directory name as param |
mkcp |
Copies a directory, and navigates into it |
mkmv |
Moves a directory, and navigates into it |
Alias | Description |
---|---|
c~ |
Navigate to ~ |
c. |
Go up 1 directory |
c.. |
Go up 2 directories |
c... |
Go up 3 directories |
c.... |
Go up 4 directories |
c..... |
Go up 5 directories |
cg |
Navigate to base of git project |
Alias | Description |
---|---|
dud |
du -d 1 -h - List sizes of files within directory |
duf |
du -sh * - List total size of current directory |
ff |
find . -type f -name - Find a file by name within current directory |
fd |
find . -type d -name - Find direcroy by name |
Alias | Description |
---|---|
h |
history - Shows full history |
h-search |
fc -El 0 | grep - Searchses for a word in terminal history |
top-history |
history 0 | awk '{print $2}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -n -r | head - Most used |
Alias | Description |
---|---|
H |
| head - Pipes output to head (the first part of a file) |
T |
| tail - Pipes output to tail (the last part of a file) |
G |
| grep - Pipes output to grep to search for some word |
L |
| less - Pipes output to less, useful for paging |
M |
| most - Pipes output to more, useful for paging |
LL |
2>&1 | less - Writes stderr to stdout and passes it to less |
CA |
2>&1 | cat -A - Writes stderr to stdout and passes it to cat |
NE |
2> /dev/null - Silences stderr |
NUL |
> /dev/null 2>&1 - Silences both stdout and stderr |
P |
2>&1| pygmentize -l pytb - Writes stderr to stdout, and passes to pygmentize |
Alias | Description |
---|---|
al |
alias | less - List all aliases |
as |
alias | grep - Search aliases |
ar |
unalias - Remove given alias |
Alias | Description |
---|---|
meminfo |
free -m -l -t - Show free and used memory |
memhog |
ps -eo pid,ppid,cmd,%mem --sort=-%mem | head - Processes consuming most mem |
cpuhog |
ps -eo pid,ppid,cmd,%cpu --sort=-%cpu | head - Processes consuming most cpu |
cpuinfo |
lscpu - Show CPU Info |
distro |
cat /etc/*-release - Show OS info |
Alias | Description |
---|---|
myip |
curl icanhazip.com - Fetches and displays public IP |
weather |
curl wttr.in - Fetches and displays local weather |
weather-short |
curl "wttr.in?format=3" |
cheat |
curl cheat.sh/ - Gets manual for a Linux command |
tinyurl |
curl -s "http://tinyurl.com/api-create.php?url= - URL shortening |
ports |
netstat -tulanp - List currently used ports |
crypto |
cointop - Launch cointop (only registered if installed) |
gto |
gotop - Launch gotop (only registered if installed) |
Alias | Description |
---|---|
cls |
clear;ls - Clear and ls |
plz |
`fc -l -1 |
yolo |
git add .; git commit -m "YOLO"; git push origin master - Why not.. |
when |
date - Show date |
whereami |
pwd - Just show current path |
dog |
cat - I don't know why... |
gtfo |
exit - This just feels better than exit |
The dotfile installation script can also, detect which system and environemnt you're running, and optionally prompt to update and install listed packages and applications.
Package lists are stored in scripts/installs/
directory, with separate files for different OSs. The install script will pick the appropriate file based on your distro.
You will be prompted before anything is installed. Be sure to remove / comment out anything you do not need before proceeding.
- Linux (desktop):
flatpak.sh
- Desktop apps can be installed on Linux systems via Flatpack - Mac OS:
Brewfile
- Mac apps installed via Homebrew - Arch (and Arch-based systems, like Manjaro):
arch-pacman.sh
- Arch CLI apps installed via pacman - Debian (and Debian-based systems, like Ubuntu):
debian-apt.sh
- Debian CLI apps installed via apt - Alpine:
aplpine-apk.sh
- Alpine CLI apps installed via apk
The following section lists apps installed for each category:
CLI Essentials
CLI Basics
aria2
- Resuming download util (better wget)bat
- Output highlighting (better cat)ctags
- Indexing of file info + headersdiff-so-fancy
- Readable file compares (better diff)entr
- Run command whenever file changesduf
- Get info on mounted disks (better df)exa
- Listing files with info (better ls)exiftool
- Reading and writing exif metadatafdupes
- Duplicate file finderfzf
- Fuzzy file finder and filteringhyperfine
- Benchmarking for arbitrary commandsjq
- JSON parsermost
- Multi-window scroll pager (better less)procs
- Advanced process viewer (better ps)rip
- Safe and ergonomic deletion tool (better rm)ripgrep
- Searching within files (better grep)rsync
- Fast, incremental file transferscc
- Count lines of code (better cloc)sd
- RegEx find and replace (better sed)thefuck
- Auto-correct miss-typed commandstldr
- Community-maintained docs (better man)tree
- Directory listings as treetrash-cli
- Record + restore removed fileswatch
- Run commands perioricallyxsel
- Copy paste access to X clipboardzoxide
- Easy navigation (better cd)
CLI Monitoring and Performance Apps
bandwhich
- Bandwidth utilization monitorctop
- Container metrics and monitoringbpytop
- Resource monitoring (like htop)glances
- Resource monitor + web and APIgping
- Interactive ping tool, with graphncdu
- Disk usage analyzer and monitor (better du)speedtest-cli
- Command line speed test utilitydog
- DNS lookup client (better dig)
CLI Productivity Apps
CLI Dev Suits
httpie
- HTTP / API testing testing clientlazydocker
- Full Docker management applazygit
- Full Git managemtne appkdash
- Kubernetes dashboard app
CLI External Sercvices
CLI Fun
Development Apps
- Android Studio - IDE for Android development
- Boop - Test transformation tool (MacOS Only)
- iterm2 - Better terminal emulator (MacOS Only)
- Postman - HTTP API testing app
- Sourcetree - Git visual client (MacOS Only)
- Virtual Box - VM management console
- VS Code - Code editor
Development Langs, Compilers, Package Managers and SDKs
docker
- Containersgcc
- GNU C++ compilersgo
- Compiler for Go Langgradle
- Build tool for Javalua
- Lua interpreterluarocks
- Package manager for Luanode
- Node.jsnvm
- Switching node versionsopenjdk
- Java development kitpython
- Python interpriterrust
- Rust languageandroid-sdk
- Android software dev kit
Development Utils
gh
- Interact with GitHub PRs, issues, reposscrcpy
- Display and control Andrdroid devicesterminal-notifier
- Trigger Mac notifications from terminal (MacOS Only)tig
- Text-mode interface for gitttygif
- Generate GIF from terminal commands + output
Network and Security Testing
bettercap
- Network, scanning and monirotingnmap
- Port scanningwrk
- HTTP benchmarkingburp-suite
- Web security testingmetasploit
- Pen testing frameworkowasp-zap
- Web app security scannerwireshark
- Network analyzer + packet capture
Security Utilities
bcrypt
- Encryption utility, using blowfishclamav
- Open source virus scanning suitegit-crypt
- Transparent encryption for git reposlynis
- Scan system for common security issuesopenssl
- Cryptography and SSL/TLS Toolkitrkhunter
- Search / detect potential root kitsveracrypt
- File and volume encryption
Creativity
- Audacity - Multi-track audio editor and recording
- Blender - 3D modelling, rendering and sculpting
- Cura - 3D Printing software, for slicing models
- DarkTable - Organize and bulk edit photos (similar to Lightroom)
- Dia - Versatile diagramming tool, useful for UML
- Gimp - Image and photo editing application
- HandBrake - For converting video from any format to a selection of modern codecs
- InkScape - Digital drawing/ illustration
- OBS Studio - Streaming and screencasting
- Shotcut - Video editor
- Synfig Studio - 2D animation
Media
- Calibre - E-Book reader
- Spotify - Propietary music streaming
- Transmission - Torrent client
- VLC - Media player
- Pandoc - Universal file converter
- Youtube-dl - YouTube video downloader
Personal Applications
- 1Password - Password manager (proprietary)
- Tresorit - Encrypted file backup (proprietary)
- Standard Notes - Encrypted synced notes
- Signal - Link to encrypted mobile messenger
- Ledger Live - Crypto hardware wallet manager
- ProtonMail-Bridge - Decrypt ProtonMail emails
- ProtonVPN - Client app for ProtonVPN
MacOS Mods and Imrovments
alt-tab
- Much better alt-tab window switcheranybar
- Custom programatic menubar iconscopyq
- Clipboard manager (cross platform)espanso
- Live text expander (cross-platform)finicky
- Website-specific default browserhiddenbar
- Hide / show annoying menubar iconsiproute2mac
- MacOS port of netstat and ifconfiglporg
- Backup and restore launchpad layoutm-cli
- All in one MacOS management CLI appmjolnir
- Util for loading Lua automationsopeninterminal
- Finder button, opens directory in terminalpopclip
- Popup options for text on highlightraycast
- Spotlight alternativeshottr
- Better screenshot utilityskhd
- Hotkey daemon for macOSstats
- System resource usage in menubaryabai
- Tiling window manager
The installation script can also prompt you to confiture system settings and user preferences. This is useful for setting up a completely fresh system in just a few seconds.
MacOS includes a built-in utility named defaults
, which lets you configure all system and app preferences programatically through the command line. This is very powerful, as you can write a script that configures every aspect of your system enabling you to setup a brand new machine in seconds.
All settings are then updated in the .plist
files stored in ~/Library/Preferences
. This can also be used to configure preferences for any installed app on your system, where the application is specified by its domain identifier - you can view a full list of your configurable apps by running defaults domains
.
In my dotfiles, the MacOS preferences will configure everything from system security to launchpad layout.
The Mac settings are located in scripts/macos-setup/
, and are split into three files:
macos-security.sh
- Sets essential security settings, disables telementry, disconnects unused ports, enforces signing, sets logout timeouts, and much moremacos-preferences.sh
- Configures all user preferences, including computer name, highlight color, finder options, spotlight settings, hardware preferences and moremacos-apps.sh
- Applies preferences to any installed desktop apps, such as Terminal, Time Machine, Photos, Spotify, and many others
Upon running each script, a summary of what will be changed will be shown, and you'll be prompted as to weather you'd like to continue. Each script also handles permissions, compatibility checking, and graceful fallbacks. Backup of original settings will be made, and a summary of all changes made will be logged as output when the script is complete.
If you choose to run any of these scripts, take care to read it through first, to ensure you understand what changes will be made, and optionally update or remove anything as you see fit.
All config files are located in ./config/
.
Configurations for ZSH, Tmux, Vim, and a few others are in dedicated sub-directories (covered in the section below). While all other, small config files are located in the ./config/general
direcroty, and include:
.bashrc
.curlrc
.gemrc
.gitconfig
.gitignore_global
.wgetrc
dnscrypt-proxy.toml
gpg.conf
starship.toml
ZSH (or Z shell) is a UNIX command interpriter (shell), similar to and compatible with Korn shell (KSH). Compared to Bash, it includes many useful features and enchanements, notably in the CLI editor, advanced behaviour customization options, filename globbing, recursive path expansion, completion, and it's easyily extandable through plugins. For more info about ZSH, see the Introduction to ZSH Docs.
My ZSH config is located in config/zsh/
The entry point for the Vim config is the vimrc
, but the main editor settings are defined in vim/editor.vim
Vim plugins are managed using Plug defined in vim/plugins.vim
.
To install them from GitHub, run :PlugInstall
(see options) from within Vim. They will also be installed or updated when you run the main dotfiles setup script (install.sh
).
The following plugins are being used:
Layout & Navigation
- Airline:
vim-airline/vim-airline
- A very nice status line at the bottom of each window, displaying useful info - Nerd-tree:
preservim/nerdtree
- Alter files in larger projects more easily, with a nice tree-view pain - Matchup:
andymass/vim-matchup
- Better % naviagtion, to highlight and jump between open and closing blocks - TagBar:
preservim/tagbar
- Provides an overview of the structure of a long file, shows tags ordered by scope - Gutentags:
ludovicchabant/vim-gutentags
- Manages tag files - Fzf:
junegunn/fzf
andjunegunn/fzf.vim
- Command-line fuzzy finder and corresponding vim bindings - Deoplete.nvim:
Shougo/deoplete.nvim
- Extensible and asynchronous auto completion framework - Smoothie:
psliwka/vim-smoothie
- Smooth scrolling, supporting^D
,^U
,^F
and^B
- DevIcons:
ryanoasis/vim-devicons
- Adds file-type icons to Nerd-tree and other plugins
Operations
- Nerd-Commenter:
preservim/nerdcommenter
- For auto-commenting code blocks - Ale:
dense-analysis/ale
- Checks syntax asynchronously, with lint support - Surround:
tpope/vim-surround
- Easily surround selected text with brackets, quotes, tags etc - IncSearch:
haya14busa/incsearch.vim
- Efficient incremental searching within files - Vim-Visual-Multi:
mg979/vim-visual-multi
- Allows for inserting/ deleting in multiple places simultaneously - Visual-Increment:
triglav/vim-visual-increment
- Create an increasing sequence of numbers/ letters withCtrl
+A
/X
- Vim-Test:
janko/vim-test
- A wrapper for running tests on different granularities - Syntastic:
vim-syntastic/syntastic
- Syntax checking that warns in the gutter when there's an issue
Git
- Git-Gutter:
airblade/vim-gitgutter
- Shows git diff markers in the gutter column - Vim-fugitive:
tpope/vim-fugitive
- A git wrapper for git that lets you call a git command using:Git
- Committia:
rhysd/committia.vim
- Shows a diff, status and edit window for git commits - Vim-Git:
tpope/vim-git
- Runtime files for git in vim, for git, gitcommit, gitconfig, gitrebase, and gitsendemail
File-Type Plugins
- Vim-JavaScript:
pangloss/vim-javascript
(JavaScript) - Syntax highlighting and improved indentation for JS files - Yats:
HerringtonDarkholme/yats.vim
(TypeScript) - Syntax highlighting and snippets for TypeScript files - Vim-jsx-pretty:
MaxMEllon/vim-jsx-pretty
(React) - Highlighting and indentation for React .tsx and .jsx files - Vim-CSS-Color:
ap/vim-css-color
(CSS/ SASS) - Previews colors as text highlight, where hex codes are present - Mustache and Handlebars:
mustache/vim-mustache-handlebars
(Mustache/ Handlebars) - Auto handles braces - Vim-Go:
fatih/vim-go
(GoLang) - Go support, with syntax highlighting, quick execute, imports, formatting etc - Indentpython:
vim-scripts/indentpython.vim
(Python) - Correct indentation for Python files - Semshi:
numirias/semshi
(Python) - Advanced syntax highlighting for Python files - SimpylFold:
tmhedberg/SimpylFold
(Python) - Code-folding for Python - Vimtex:
lervag/vimtex
(LaTex) - Completion of citations, labels, commands and glossary entries - Dockerfile.vim:
ekalinin/Dockerfile.vim
(Docker) - Syntax highlighting and snippets for Dockerfiles - Vim-Json:
elzr/vim-json
(JSON) - Syntax highlighting, warnings, and quote concealing foe .json files - Requirements:
raimon49/requirements.txt.vim
(Requirements) - Syntax highlighting for the requirements file format - Vim-Markdown:
gabrielelana/vim-markdown
(Markdown) - Syntax highlighting, auto format, easy tables and more - Zinit:
zinit-zsh/zinit-vim-syntax
(ZSH) - syntax definition for Zinit commands in any file of type zsh - Nginx:
chr4/nginx.vim
(Nginx) - Integer matching, hichlight syntax and IPv4/ IPv6, mark insecure protocols and more
Themes
Fairly standard Tmux configuration, strongly based off Tmux-sensible. Configuration is defined in .tmux.conf
Tmux plugins are managed using TMP and defined in .tmux.conf
. To install them from GitHub, run prefix
+ I from within Tmux, and they will be cloned int ~/.tmux/plugins/
.
- Tmux-sensible:
tmux-plugins/tmux-sensible
- General, sensible Tmux config - Tmux-continuum:
tmux-plugins/tmux-continuum
- Continuously saves and environment with automatic restore - Tmux-yank:
tmux-plugins/tmux-yank
- Allows access to system clipboard - Tmux-prefix-highlight:
tmux-plugins/tmux-prefix-highlight
- Highlight Tmux prefix key when pressed - Tmux-online-status:
tmux-plugins/tmux-online-status
- Displays network status - Tmux-open:
tmux-plugins/tmux-open
- Bindings for quick opening selected path/ url - Tmux-mem-cpu-load:
thewtex/tmux-mem-cpu-load
- Shows system resources
// TODO
Git aliases for ZSH are located in /zsh/aliases/git.zsh
, and are documented under the Aliases section, above.
It's strongly recomended to have the following packages installed on your system before proceeding:
- zsh - Interactive Shell
- nvim - Extensible Vim-based text editor
- tmux - Detachable terminal multiplexer
- ranger - CLI-based file manager with VI bindings
- git - Version control system
They can be easily installed/ updated with your package manger, e.g:
- Ubuntu Server:
sudo apt install -y zsh neovim tmux ranger git
- Arch Linux:
sudo pacman -S zsh neovim tmux ranger git
- Alpine:
apk add zsh neovim tmux ranger git
- MacOS:
brew install zsh neovim tmux ranger git
The dotfiles also contains several handy bash scripts to carry out useful tasks with slightly more ease.
Each of these scripts is standalone, without any dependencies, and can be executed directly to use. Alternatively, they can be sourced from within a .zshrc / .bashrc, for use anywhere via their alias.
For usage instructions about any of them, just append the --help
flag.
- Transfer - Quickly transfer files or folders to the internet
- Web Search - Open a specific search engine with a given query
- QR Code - Generates a QR code for a given string, to transfer data to mobile device
- Weather - Shows current and forecasted weather for your location
- Color Map - Just outputs your terminal emulators supported color pallete
- Welcome - Used for first login, prints personalised greeting, system info, and other handy info
- Online - Checks if you are connected to the internet
Quickly transfer a file, group of files or directory via the transfer.sh service.
To get started, run transfer <file(s) / folder>
, for more info, run transfer --help
If multiple files are passed in, they will automatically be compressed into an archive.
You can change the file transfer service, or use a self-hosted instance by setting the URL in FILE_TRANSFER_SERVICE
The file can be either run directly, or sourced in your .zshrc
and used via the transfer
alias.
For info, run
transfer --help
Source:utils/transfer.sh
Quickly open web search results for a given query using a selected search engine. To get started, run web-search
, or web-search --help
for more info.
Usage:
All parameters are optional, to get started just run web-search
or web-search <search provider (optional)> <query (optional)>
, the ws
alias can also be used. If a search engine isn't specified, you'll be prompted to select one from the list. Similarly, if a query hasn't been included you'll be asked for that too.
web-search
- Opens interactive menu, you'll be prompted to select a search engine from the list then enter your queryweb-search <search term>
- Specify a search term, and you'll be prompted to select the search engine- For example,
web-search Hello World!
- For example,
web-search <search engine>
- Specify a search engine, and you'll be prompted for your search term- For example,
web-search duckduckgo
- For example,
web-search <search engine> <search engine>
- Specify both a search engine and query, and results will open immediately- For example,
web-search wikipedia Matrix Defense
- For example,
Supported Search Providers
The following search engines are supported by default:
- DuckDuckGo:
ws duckduckgo
(orwsddg
) - Wikipedia:
ws wikipedia
or (wswiki
) - GitHub:
ws github
(orwsgh
) - StackOverflow:
ws stackoverflow
(orwsso
) - Wolframalpha:
ws wolframalpha
(orwswa
) - Reddit:
ws reddit
(orwsrdt
) - Maps:
ws maps
(orwsmap
) - Google:
ws google
(orwsggl
) - Grep App:
ws grepapp
(orwsgra
)
The alias ws
will also resolve to web-search
, if it's not already in use. You can either run the script directly, e.g.~/.config/utils/web-search.sh
(don't forget to chmod +x
the file first, to make it executable), or use the web-search
/ ws
alias anywhere, once it has been source'd from your .zshrc.
For info, run
web-search --help
Source:utils/web-search.sh
Try now!
bash <(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Lissy93/dotfiles/master/utils/web-search.sh)
Β© Alicia Sykes 2022
Licensed under MIT
Thanks for visiting :)