All patches and comments are welcome. Please squash your changes to logical
commits before using git-format-patch and git-send-email to
patches@git.madduck.net.
If you'd read over the Git project's submission guidelines and adhered to them,
I'd be especially grateful.
1 vcsh - Version Control System for $HOME (based on git)
6 1. [Introduction](#introduction)
7 2. [30 second howto](#30-second-howto)
8 3. [Overview](#overview)
9 4. [Getting Started](#getting-started)
11 6. [Contact](#contact)
16 [vcsh][vcsh] allows you to maintain several git repositories in one single
17 directory. They all maintain their working trees without clobbering each other
18 or interfering otherwise. By default, all git repositories maintained via
19 `vcsh` are stored in `$HOME` but you can override this setting if you want to.
20 All this means that you can have one repository per application or application
21 family, i.e. `zsh`, `vim`, `ssh`, etc. This, in turn, allows you to clone
22 custom sets of configurations onto different machines or even for different
23 users; picking and mixing which configurations you want to use where.
24 For example, you may not need to have your `mplayer` configuration on a server
25 or available to root and you may want to maintain different configuration for
26 `ssh` on your personal and your work machines.
28 `vcsh` was designed with [mr][mr], a tool to manage Multiple Repositories, in
29 mind and the two integrate very nicely. `mr` has native support for `vcsh`
30 repositories and to `vcsh`, `mr` is just another configuration to track.
31 This make setting up any new machine a breeze. It takes literally less than
32 five minutes to go from standard installation to fully set up system
34 A lot of modern UNIX-based systems offer pacakges for `vcsh`. In case yours
35 does not read `INSTALL.md` for install instructions or `PACKAGING.md` to create
36 a package, yourself. If you do end up packaging `vcsh` please let us know so we
37 can give you your own packaging branch in the upstream repository.
42 While it may appear that there's an overwhelming amount of documentation and
43 while the explanation of the concepts behind `vcsh` needs to touch a few gory
44 details of `git` internals, getting started with `vcsh` is extremely simple.
46 Let's say you want to version control your `vim` configuration:
49 vcsh vim add ~/.vimrc ~/.vim
50 vcsh vim commit -m 'Initial commit of my Vim configuration'
51 # optionally push your files to a remote
52 vcsh vim <remote> add origin REMOTE
53 vcsh vim push origin master:master
55 If all that looks a _lot_ like standard `git`, that's no coincidence; it's
61 Some people found it useful to look at slides and videos explaining how `vcsh`
62 works instead of working through the docs, first.
63 They can all be found [on the author's talk page][talks].
68 ## Comparison to Other Solutions ##
70 Most people who decide to put their dotfiles under version control start with a
71 single repository in `$HOME`, adding all their dotfiles (and possibly more)
72 to it. This works, of course, but can become a nuisance as soon as you try to
73 manage more than one host.
75 The next logical step is to create single-purpose repositories in, for example,
76 `~/.dotfiles` and to create symbolic links into `$HOME`. This gives you the
77 flexibility to check out only certain repositories on different hosts. The
78 downsides of this approach are the necessary manual steps of cloning and
79 symlinking the individual repositories.
81 `vcsh` takes this second approach one step further. It expects
82 single-purpose repositories and stores them in a hidden directory (similar
83 to `~/.dotfiles`). However, it does not create symbolic links in `$HOME`; it
84 puts the actual files right into `$HOME`.
86 Furthermore, by making use of [mr][mr], it makes it very easy to enable/disable
87 and clone a large number of repositories. The use of `mr` is technically
88 optional (see section 4.3), but it will be an integral part of the proposed
91 ## Default Directory Layout ##
93 To illustrate, this is what a possible directory structure looks like.
96 |-- $XDG_CONFIG_HOME (defaults to $HOME/.config)
100 | | | |-- gitconfigs.vcsh
102 | | | |-- offlineimap.vcsh
106 | | | |-- vimperator.vcsh
107 | | | `-- snippets.git
109 | | |-- zsh.vcsh -> ../available.d/zsh.vcsh
110 | | |-- gitconfigs.vcsh -> ../available.d/gitconfigs.vcsh
111 | | |-- tmux.vcsh -> ../available.d/tmux.vcsh
112 | | `-- vim.vcsh -> ../available.d/vim.vcsh
116 | |-- zsh.git -----------+
117 | |-- gitconfigs.git |
121 |-- .zshrc <----------------------+
129 The files you see in $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/mr/available.d are mr configuration files
130 that contain the commands to manage (checkout, update etc.) a single
131 repository. vcsh repo configs end in .vcsh, git configs end in .git, etc. This
132 is optional and your preference. For example, this is what a zsh.vcsh
133 with read-only access to my zshrc repo looks likes. I.e. in this specific
134 example, push can not work as you will be using the author's repository. This
135 is for demonstration, only. Of course, you are more than welcome to clone from
136 this repository and fork your own.
138 [$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/repo.d/zsh.git]
139 checkout = vcsh clone 'git://github.com/RichiH/zshrc.git' zsh
140 update = vcsh run zsh git pull
141 push = vcsh run zsh git push
142 status = vcsh run zsh git status
143 gc = vcsh run zsh git gc
147 $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/mr/available.d contains *all available* repositories. Only
148 files/links present in mr/config.d, however, will be used by mr. That means
149 that in this example, only the zsh, gitconfigs, tmux and vim repositories will
150 be checked out. A simple `mr update` run in $HOME will clone or update those
151 four repositories listed in config.d.
155 Finally, ~/.mrconfig will tie together all those single files which will allow
156 you to conveniently run `mr up` etc. to manage all repositories. It looks like
161 # Use if your mr does not have vcsh support in mainline, yet
162 include = cat /usr/share/mr/vcsh
163 include = cat ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/mr/config.d/*
167 $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/vcsh/repo.d is the directory where all git repositories which
168 are under vcsh's control are located. Since their working trees are configured
169 to be in $HOME, the files contained in those repositories will be put in $HOME
171 Of course, [mr] [1] will work with this layout if configured according to this
172 document (see above).
174 vcsh will check if any file it would want to create exists. If it exists, vcsh
175 will throw a warning and exit. Move away your old config and try again.
176 Optionally, merge your local and your global configs afterwards and push with
177 `vcsh run foo git push`.
179 ## Moving into a New Host ##
181 To illustrate further, the following steps could move your desired
182 configuration to a new host.
184 1. Clone the mr repository (containing available.d, config.d etc.); for
185 example: `vcsh clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh_mr_template.git mr`
186 2. Choose your repositories by linking them in config.d (or go with the default
187 you may have already configured by adding symlinks to git).
188 3. Make sure the line 'include = cat /usr/share/mr/vcsh' in .mrconfig points
190 4. Run mr to clone the repositories: `cd; mr update`.
193 Hopefully the above could help explain how this approach saves time by
195 1. making it easy to manage, clone and update a large number of repositories
197 2. making it unnecessary to create symbolic links in $HOME (thanks to vcsh).
199 If you want to give vcsh a try, follow the instructions below.
204 Below, you will find a few different methods for setting up vcsh:
207 2. The Steal-from-Template Way
210 ### The Template Way ###
212 #### Prerequisites ####
214 Make sure none of the following files and directories exist for your test
215 (user). If they do, move them away for now:
219 * $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/mr/available.d/mr.vcsh
220 * $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/mr/available.d/zsh.vcsh
221 * $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/mr/config.d/mr.vcsh
222 * $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/vcsh/repo.d/mr.git/
224 All of the files are part of the template repository, the directory is where
225 the template will be stored.
229 #### Install vcsh ####
233 If you are using Debian Squeeze, you will need to enable backports
239 vcsh is availabe via [AUR](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=54164)
240 and further documentation about the use of AUR is available
241 [on Arch's wiki](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_User_Repository).
244 wget https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/vc/vcsh-git/vcsh-git.tar.gz
245 tar xfz vcsh-git.tar.gz
248 pacman -U vcsh*.pkg.tar.xz
250 #### From source ####
252 If your version of mr is older than version 1.07, make sure to put
254 include = cat /usr/share/mr/vcsh
256 into your .mrconfig .
258 # choose a location for your checkout
261 git clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh.git
263 ln -s vcsh /usr/local/bin # or add it to your PATH
266 #### Clone the Template ####
268 vcsh clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh_mr_template.git mr
270 #### Enable Your Test Repository ####
273 mv ~/.zshrc ~/zshrc.bak
274 cd $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/config.d/
275 ln -s ../available.d/zsh.vcsh . # link, and thereby enable, the zsh repository
279 #### Set Up Your Own Repositories ####
281 Now, it's time to edit the template config and fill it with your own remotes:
283 vim $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d/mr.vcsh
284 vim $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d/zsh.vcsh
286 And then create your own stuff:
289 vcsh run foo git add -f bar baz quux
290 vcsh run foo git remote add origin git://quuux
291 vcsh run foo git commit
292 vcsh run foo git push
294 cp $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d/mr.vcsh $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d/foo.vcsh
295 vim $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d/foo.vcsh # add your own repo
299 ### The Steal-from-Template Way ###
301 You're welcome to clone the example repository:
303 vcsh clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh_mr_template.git mr
304 # make sure 'include = cat /usr/share/mr/vcsh' points to an exiting file
307 Look around in the clone. It should be reasonably simple to understand. If not,
308 poke me, RichiH, on Freenode (query) or OFTC (#vcs-home).
311 ### The Manual Way ###
313 This is how my old setup procedure looked like. Adapt it to your own style or
314 copy mine verbatim, either is fine.
320 # Clone vcsh and make it available
321 git clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh.git vcsh
322 sudo ln -s ~/work/git/vcsh/vcsh /usr/bin/local
325 Grab my mr config. see below for details on how I set this up
327 vcsh clone ssh://<remote>/mr.git
328 cd $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/config.d/
329 ln -s ../available.d/* .
332 mr is used to actually retrieve configs, etc
336 # adapt /usr/share/mr/vcsh to your system if needed
337 include = cat /usr/share/mr/vcsh
338 include = cat $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/config.d/*
339 ~ % echo $XDG_CONFIG_HOME
341 ~ % ls $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d # random selection of my repos
342 git-annex gitk.vcsh git.vcsh ikiwiki mr.vcsh reportbug.vcsh snippets.git wget.vcsh zsh.vcsh
344 # then simply ln -s whatever you want on your local machine from
345 # $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d to $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/config.d
352 ### Keeping repositories Up-to-Date ###
354 This is the beauty of it all. Once you are set up, just run:
361 ### Making Changes ###
363 After you have made some changes, for which you would normally use `git add`
364 and `git commit`, use the vcsh wrapper (like above):
366 vcsh run foo git add -f bar baz quux
367 vcsh run foo git commit
368 vcsh run foo git push
370 By the way, you'll have to use -f/--force flag with git-add because all files
371 will be ignored by default. This is to show you only useful output when running
372 git-status. A fix for this problem is being worked on.
374 ### Using vcsh without mr ###
376 vcsh encourages you to use [mr] [1]. It helps you manage a large number of
377 repositories by running the necessary vcsh commands for you. You may choose not
378 to use mr, in which case you will have to run those commands manually or by
381 #### A Few Examples ####
383 To initialize a new repository: `vcsh init zsh`
385 To clone a repository: `vcsh clone ssh://<remote>/zsh.git`
387 To interact with a repository, use the regular Git commands, but prepend them
388 with `vcsh run $repository_name`. For example:
390 vcsh run zsh git status
391 vcsh run zsh git add -f .zshrc
392 vcsh run zsh git commit
394 Obviously, without mr keeping repositories up-to-date, it will have to be done
395 manually. Alternatively, you could try something like this:
397 for repo in `vcsh list`; do
398 vcsh run $repo git pull;
404 There are several ways to get in touch with the author and a small but committed
405 community around the general idea of version controlling your (digital) life.
407 * IRC: #vcs-home on irc.oftc.net
409 * Mailing list: [http://lists.madduck.net/listinfo/vcs-home][vcs-home-list]
411 * Pull requests or issues on [https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh][vcsh]
414 [mr]: http://kitenet.net/~joey/code/mr/
415 [talks]: http://richardhartmann.de/talks/
416 [vcsh]: https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh
417 [vcs-home-list]: http://lists.madduck.net/listinfo/vcs-home