vcsh - Version Control System for $HOME (based on git) # Index # 1. [30 second howto](#30-second-howto) 2. [Introduction](#introduction) 3. [Overview](#overview) 4. [Getting Started](#getting-started) 5. [Usage](#usage) 6. [Contact](#contact) # 30 second howto # While it may appear that there's an overwhelming amount of documentation and while the explanation of the concepts behind `vcsh` needs to touch a few gory details of `git` internals, getting started with `vcsh` is extremely simple. Let's say you want to version control your `vim` configuration: vcsh init vim vcsh vim add ~/.vimrc ~/.vim vcsh vim commit -m 'Initial commit of my Vim configuration' # optionally push your files to a remote vcsh vim remote add origin REMOTE vcsh vim push origin master:master If all that looks a _lot_ like standard `git`, that's no coincidence; it's a design feature. Once you get familiar with `vcsh`, it's strongly suggested that you look into more advanced usage scenarios, especially on how to manage your `vcsh` and other repositories with [mr][mr]. # Introduction # [vcsh][vcsh] allows you to maintain several git repositories in one single directory. They all maintain their working trees without clobbering each other or interfering otherwise. By default, all git repositories maintained via `vcsh` are stored in `$HOME` but you can override this setting if you want to. All this means that you can have one repository per application or application family, i.e. `zsh`, `vim`, `ssh`, etc. This, in turn, allows you to clone custom sets of configurations onto different machines or even for different users; picking and mixing which configurations you want to use where. For example, you may not need to have your `mplayer` configuration on a server or available to root and you may want to maintain different configuration for `ssh` on your personal and your work machines. `vcsh` was designed with [mr][mr] in mind so you might want to install that, as well. Read `INSTALL.md` and `PACKAGING.md` for instructions specific to your operating system. The following overview will try to give you an idea of the use cases and advantages of `vcsh`. See sections 3 and 4 for detailed instructions and examples. ## Talks ## Some people found it useful to look at slides and videos explaining how `vcsh` works. They can all be found [on the author's talk page][talks]. # Overview ## Comparison to Other Solutions ## Most people who decide to put their dotfiles under version control start with a single repository in `$HOME`, adding all their dotfiles (and possibly more) to it. This works, of course, but can become a nuisance as soon as you try to manage more than one host. The next logical step is to create single-purpose repositories in, for example, `~/.dotfiles` and to create symbolic links into `$HOME`. This gives you the flexibility to check out only certain repositories on different hosts. The downsides of this approach are the necessary manual steps of cloning and symlinking the individual repositories. `vcsh` takes this second approach one step further. It expects single-purpose repositories and stores them in a hidden directory (similar to `~/.dotfiles`). However, it does not create symbolic links in `$HOME`; it puts the actual files right into `$HOME`. Furthermore, by making use of [mr][mr], it makes it very easy to enable/disable and clone a large number of repositories. The use of `mr` is technically optional (see section 4.3), but it will be an integral part of the proposed system that follows. ## Default Directory Layout ## To illustrate, this is what a possible directory structure looks like. $HOME |-- $XDG_CONFIG_HOME (defaults to $HOME/.config) | |-- mr | | |-- available.d | | | |-- zsh.vcsh | | | |-- gitconfigs.vcsh | | | |-- lftp.vcsh | | | |-- offlineimap.vcsh | | | |-- s3cmd.vcsh | | | |-- tmux.vcsh | | | |-- vim.vcsh | | | |-- vimperator.vcsh | | | `-- snippets.git | | `-- config.d | | |-- zsh.vcsh -> ../available.d/zsh.vcsh | | |-- gitconfigs.vcsh -> ../available.d/gitconfigs.vcsh | | |-- tmux.vcsh -> ../available.d/tmux.vcsh | | `-- vim.vcsh -> ../available.d/vim.vcsh | `-- vcsh | |-- config | `-- repo.d | |-- zsh.git -----------+ | |-- gitconfigs.git | | |-- tmux.git | | `-- vim.git | |-- [...] | |-- .zshrc <----------------------+ |-- .gitignore.d | `-- zsh |-- .mrconfig `-- .mrtrust ### available.d ### The files you see in $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/mr/available.d are mr configuration files that contain the commands to manage (checkout, update etc.) a single repository. vcsh repo configs end in .vcsh, git configs end in .git, etc. This is optional and your preference. For example, this is what a zsh.vcsh with read-only access to my zshrc repo looks likes. I.e. in this specific example, push can not work as you will be using the author's repository. This is for demonstration, only. Of course, you are more than welcome to clone from this repository and fork your own. [$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/repo.d/zsh.git] checkout = vcsh clone 'git://github.com/RichiH/zshrc.git' zsh update = vcsh run zsh git pull push = vcsh run zsh git push status = vcsh run zsh git status gc = vcsh run zsh git gc ### config.d ### $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/mr/available.d contains *all available* repositories. Only files/links present in mr/config.d, however, will be used by mr. That means that in this example, only the zsh, gitconfigs, tmux and vim repositories will be checked out. A simple `mr update` run in $HOME will clone or update those four repositories listed in config.d. ### ~/.mrconfig ### Finally, ~/.mrconfig will tie together all those single files which will allow you to conveniently run `mr up` etc. to manage all repositories. It looks like this: [DEFAULT] jobs = 5 # Use if your mr does not have vcsh support in mainline, yet include = cat /usr/share/mr/vcsh include = cat ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/mr/config.d/* ### repo.d ### $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/vcsh/repo.d is the directory where all git repositories which are under vcsh's control are located. Since their working trees are configured to be in $HOME, the files contained in those repositories will be put in $HOME directly. Of course, [mr] [1] will work with this layout if configured according to this document (see above). vcsh will check if any file it would want to create exists. If it exists, vcsh will throw a warning and exit. Move away your old config and try again. Optionally, merge your local and your global configs afterwards and push with `vcsh run foo git push`. ## Moving into a New Host ## To illustrate further, the following steps could move your desired configuration to a new host. 1. Clone the mr repository (containing available.d, config.d etc.); for example: `vcsh clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh_mr_template.git mr` 2. Choose your repositories by linking them in config.d (or go with the default you may have already configured by adding symlinks to git). 3. Make sure the line 'include = cat /usr/share/mr/vcsh' in .mrconfig points to an existing file 4. Run mr to clone the repositories: `cd; mr update`. 5. Done. Hopefully the above could help explain how this approach saves time by 1. making it easy to manage, clone and update a large number of repositories (thanks to mr) and 2. making it unnecessary to create symbolic links in $HOME (thanks to vcsh). If you want to give vcsh a try, follow the instructions below. # Getting Started # Below, you will find a few different methods for setting up vcsh: 1. The Template Way 2. The Steal-from-Template Way 3. The Manual Way ### The Template Way ### #### Prerequisites #### Make sure none of the following files and directories exist for your test (user). If they do, move them away for now: * ~/.gitignore.d * ~/.mrconfig * $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/mr/available.d/mr.vcsh * $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/mr/available.d/zsh.vcsh * $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/mr/config.d/mr.vcsh * $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/vcsh/repo.d/mr.git/ All of the files are part of the template repository, the directory is where the template will be stored. apt-get install mr #### Install vcsh #### #### Debian #### If you are using Debian Squeeze, you will need to enable backports apt-get install vcsh #### Arch Linux #### vcsh is availabe via [AUR](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=54164) and further documentation about the use of AUR is available [on Arch's wiki](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_User_Repository). cd /var/abs/local/ wget https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/vc/vcsh-git/vcsh-git.tar.gz tar xfz vcsh-git.tar.gz cd vcsh-git makepkg -s pacman -U vcsh*.pkg.tar.xz #### From source #### If your version of mr is older than version 1.07, make sure to put include = cat /usr/share/mr/vcsh into your .mrconfig . # choose a location for your checkout cd $HOME mkdir -p ~/work/git git clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh.git cd vcsh ln -s vcsh /usr/local/bin # or add it to your PATH cd #### Clone the Template #### vcsh clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh_mr_template.git mr #### Enable Your Test Repository #### mv ~/.zsh ~/zsh.bak mv ~/.zshrc ~/zshrc.bak cd $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/config.d/ ln -s ../available.d/zsh.vcsh . # link, and thereby enable, the zsh repository cd mr up #### Set Up Your Own Repositories #### Now, it's time to edit the template config and fill it with your own remotes: vim $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d/mr.vcsh vim $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d/zsh.vcsh And then create your own stuff: vcsh init foo vcsh run foo git add -f bar baz quux vcsh run foo git remote add origin git://quuux vcsh run foo git commit vcsh run foo git push cp $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d/mr.vcsh $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d/foo.vcsh vim $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d/foo.vcsh # add your own repo Done! ### The Steal-from-Template Way ### You're welcome to clone the example repository: vcsh clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh_mr_template.git mr # make sure 'include = cat /usr/share/mr/vcsh' points to an exiting file vim .mrconfig Look around in the clone. It should be reasonably simple to understand. If not, poke me, RichiH, on Freenode (query) or OFTC (#vcs-home). ### The Manual Way ### This is how my old setup procedure looked like. Adapt it to your own style or copy mine verbatim, either is fine. # Create workspace mkdir -p ~/work/git cd !$ # Clone vcsh and make it available git clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh.git vcsh sudo ln -s ~/work/git/vcsh/vcsh /usr/bin/local hash -r Grab my mr config. see below for details on how I set this up vcsh clone ssh:///mr.git cd $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/config.d/ ln -s ../available.d/* . mr is used to actually retrieve configs, etc ~ % cat ~/.mrconfig [DEFAULT] # adapt /usr/share/mr/vcsh to your system if needed include = cat /usr/share/mr/vcsh include = cat $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/config.d/* ~ % echo $XDG_CONFIG_HOME /home/richih/.config ~ % ls $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d # random selection of my repos git-annex gitk.vcsh git.vcsh ikiwiki mr.vcsh reportbug.vcsh snippets.git wget.vcsh zsh.vcsh ~ % # then simply ln -s whatever you want on your local machine from # $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d to $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/config.d ~ % cd ~ % mr -j 5 up # Usage # ### Keeping repositories Up-to-Date ### This is the beauty of it all. Once you are set up, just run: mr up mr push Neat. ### Making Changes ### After you have made some changes, for which you would normally use `git add` and `git commit`, use the vcsh wrapper (like above): vcsh run foo git add -f bar baz quux vcsh run foo git commit vcsh run foo git push By the way, you'll have to use -f/--force flag with git-add because all files will be ignored by default. This is to show you only useful output when running git-status. A fix for this problem is being worked on. ### Using vcsh without mr ### vcsh encourages you to use [mr] [1]. It helps you manage a large number of repositories by running the necessary vcsh commands for you. You may choose not to use mr, in which case you will have to run those commands manually or by other means. #### A Few Examples #### To initialize a new repository: `vcsh init zsh` To clone a repository: `vcsh clone ssh:///zsh.git` To interact with a repository, use the regular Git commands, but prepend them with `vcsh run $repository_name`. For example: vcsh run zsh git status vcsh run zsh git add -f .zshrc vcsh run zsh git commit Obviously, without mr keeping repositories up-to-date, it will have to be done manually. Alternatively, you could try something like this: for repo in `vcsh list`; do vcsh run $repo git pull; done # Contact # There are several ways to get in touch with the author and a small but committed community around the general idea of version controlling your (digital) life. * IRC: #vcs-home on irc.oftc.net * Mailing list: [http://lists.madduck.net/listinfo/vcs-home][vcs-home-list] * Pull requests or issues on [https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh][vcsh] [mr]: http://kitenet.net/~joey/code/mr/ [talks]: http://richardhartmann.de/talks/ [vcsh]: https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh [vcs-home-list]: http://lists.madduck.net/listinfo/vcs-home