-vcsh - manage config files in $HOME via fake bare git repositories
+vcsh - Version Control System for $HOME - multiple Git repositories in $HOME
-# Index #
-1. Contact
-2. Introduction
-3. Overview
-4. Getting Started
-5. Usage
+# Index
-# 1 Contact #
+1. [30 second howto](#30-second-howto)
+2. [Introduction](#introduction)
+3. [Usage Exmaples](#usage-examples)
+4. [Overview](#overview)
+5. [Getting Started](#getting-started)
+6. [Contact](#contact)
-There are several ways to get in touch with the author and a small but committed
-community around the general idea of version controlling your (digital) life.
-* IRC: #vcs-home on irc.oftc.net
+# 30 second howto
+
+While it may appear that there's an overwhelming amount of documentation and
+while the explanation of the concepts behind `vcsh` needs to touch a few gory
+details of `git` internals, getting started with `vcsh` is extremely simple.
+
+Let's say you want to version control your `vim` configuration:
+
+ vcsh init vim
+ vcsh vim add ~/.vimrc ~/.vim
+ vcsh vim commit -m 'Initial commit of my Vim configuration'
+ # optionally push your files to a remote
+ vcsh vim remote add origin <remote>
+ vcsh vim push -u origin master
+ # from now on you can push additional commits like this
+ vcsh vim push
+
+If all that looks a _lot_ like standard `git`, that's no coincidence; it's
+a design feature.
+
+
+# Introduction
+
+[vcsh][vcsh] allows you to maintain several Git repositories in one single
+directory. They all maintain their working trees without clobbering each other
+or interfering otherwise. By default, all Git repositories maintained via
+`vcsh` store the actual files in `$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.
+
+A lot of modern UNIX-based systems offer packages for `vcsh`. In case yours
+does not read `INSTALL.md` for install instructions or `PACKAGING.md` to create
+a package, yourself. If you do end up packaging `vcsh` please let us know so we
+can give you your own packaging branch in the upstream repository.
-* Mailing list: http://lists.madduck.net/listinfo/vcs-home
+## Talks
-* Pull requests or issues on https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh
+Some people found it useful to look at slides and videos explaining how `vcsh`
+works instead of working through the docs.
+All slides, videos, and further information can be found
+[on the author's talk page][talks].
-# 2 Introduction #
-vcsh allows you to have several git repositories, all maintaining their working
-trees in $HOME without clobbering each other. That, in turn, means you can have
-one repository per config set (zsh, vim, ssh, etc), picking and choosing which
-configs you want to use on which machine.
+# Usage Examples
-vcsh was designed with [mr] [1] in mind so you might want to install that, as
-well.
+There are three different ways to interact with `vcsh` repositories; this
+section will only show the simplest and easiest way.
-Read INSTALL.md for detailed setup instructions.
+Certain more advanced use cases require the other two ways, but don't worry
+about this for now. If you never even bother playing with the other two
+modes you will still be fine.
-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.
+`vcsh enter` and `vcsh run` will be covered in later sections.
-# 3 Overview
-## 3.1 Comparison to Other Solutions ##
+| Task | Command |
+| ----------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
+| _Initialize a new repository called "vim"_ | `vcsh init vim` |
+| _Clone an existing repository_ | `vcsh clone <remote> <repository_name>` |
+| _Add files to repository "vim"_ | `vcsh vim add ~/.vimrc ~/.vim` |
+| | `vcsh vim commit -m 'Update Vim configuration'` |
+| _Add a remote for repository "vim"_ | `vcsh vim remote add origin <remote>` |
+| | `vcsh vim push origin master:master` |
+| | `vcsh vim branch --track master origin/master` |
+| _Push to remote of repository "vim"_ | `vcsh vim push` |
+| _Pull from remote of repository "vim"_ | `vcsh vim pull` |
+| _Show status of changed files in all repositories_ | `vcsh status` |
+| _Pull from all repositories_ | `vcsh pull` |
+| _Push to all repositories_ | `vcsh push` |
+
+
+# Overview
+
+## From zero to vcsh
+
+You put a lot of effort into your configuration and want to both protect and
+distribute this configuration.
Most people who decide to put their dotfiles under version control start with a
-**single repository in $HOME**, adding all their dotfiles (and possibly more)
+single repository in `$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 in $HOME**. This gives you the
+`~/.dotfiles` and to create symbolic links into `$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. It will probably become a nuisance when
-you try to manage more than two hosts.
+symlinking the individual repositories.
+
+`vcsh` takes this approach one step further. It enables single-purpose
+repositories and stores them in a hidden directory. However, it does not create
+symbolic links in `$HOME`; it puts the actual files right into `$HOME`.
+
+As `vcsh` allows you to put an arbitrary number of distinct repositories into
+your `$HOME`, you will end up with a lot of repositories very quickly.
-**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**.
+`vcsh` was designed with [myrepos][myrepos], a tool to manage Multiple
+Repositories, in mind and the two integrate very nicely. The myrepos tool
+(`mr`) has native support for `vcsh` repositories and the configuration for
+myrepos is just another set of files that you cat track with `vcsh` like any
+other. This makes setting up any new machine a breeze. It can take literally
+less than five minutes to go from standard installation to fully set up system.
-Furthermore, by making use of [mr] [1], it makes it very easy to enable/disable
-and clone a large number of repositories. The use of mr is technically optional
-(see 4.3), but it will be an integral part of the proposed system that follows.
+We suggest using [myrepos][myrepos] to manage both `vcsh` and other repositories. The
+`mr` utility takes care of pulling in and pushing out new data for a variety of
+version control systems. While the use of myrepos is technically optional, it will
+be an integral part of the proposed system that follows.
-## 3.2 Default Directory Layout ##
+## Default Directory Layout
To illustrate, this is what a possible directory structure looks like.
|-- .mrconfig
`-- .mrtrust
-### available.d ###
+### 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.
+The files you see in $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/mr/available.d are myrepos
+configuration files that contain the commands to manage (checkout, update
+etc.) a single repository. vcsh repo configs end in .vcsh, git configs end
+in .git, etc. This is optional and your preference. For example, this is
+what a zsh.vcsh with read-only access to my zshrc repo looks likes. I.e. in
+this specific example, push can not work as you will be using the author's
+repository. This is for demonstration, only. Of course, you are more than
+welcome to clone from this repository and fork your own.
[$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
+ update = vcsh zsh pull
+ push = vcsh zsh push
+ status = vcsh zsh status
+ gc = vcsh zsh gc
-### config.d ###
+### 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
+files/links present in mr/config.d, however, will be used by myrepos. 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 ###
+### ~/.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 ###
+### 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).
+
+Of course, [myrepos][myrepos] 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`.
+`vcsh foo push`.
-## 3.3 Moving into a New Host ##
+## 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
+1. Clone the myrepos 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.
+3. Run myrepos to clone the repositories: `cd; mr update`.
+4. 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
+ (thanks to myrepos) 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.
-# 4 Getting Started #
+
+# Getting Started
Below, you will find a few different methods for setting up vcsh:
2. The Steal-from-Template Way
3. The Manual Way
-### 4.1 The Template Way ###
+### The Template Way
-#### 4.1.1 Prerequisites ####
+#### Prerequisites
Make sure none of the following files and directories exist for your test
(user). If they do, move them away for now:
All of the files are part of the template repository, the directory is where
the template will be stored.
- apt-get install mr
+ apt-get install myrepos
+
+### Install vcsh
+
+#### Debian
-#### 4.1.2 Clone the Template ####
+If you are using Debian Squeeze, you will need to enable backports.
+From Wheezy onwards, you can install it directly:
- cd $HOME
+ apt-get install vcsh
+
+#### Gentoo
+
+To install vcsh in Gentoo Linux just give the following command as root:
+
+ emerge dev-vcs/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
+
+ # choose a location for your checkout
mkdir -p ~/work/git
- git clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh.git vcsh
- # make sure 'include = cat /usr/share/mr/vcsh' points to an exiting file
- vim .mrconfig
+ cd ~/work/git
+ git clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh.git
cd vcsh
- ln -s vcsh /usr/local/bin # or add it to your PATH
+ sudo 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
-#### 4.1.3 Enable Your Test Repository ####
+#### Enable Your Test Repository
mv ~/.zsh ~/zsh.bak
mv ~/.zshrc ~/zshrc.bak
cd
mr up
-#### 4.1.4 Set Up Your Own Repositories ####
+#### Set Up Your Own Repositories
Now, it's time to edit the template config and fill it with your own remotes:
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
+ vcsh foo add bar baz quux
+ vcsh foo remote add origin git://quuux
+ vcsh foo commit
+ vcsh foo 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!
-### 4.2 The Steal-from-Template Way ###
+### The Steal-from-Template Way
You're welcome to clone the example repository:
poke me, RichiH, on Freenode (query) or OFTC (#vcs-home).
-### 4.3 The Manual Way ###
+### 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.
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
+Grab my myrepos config. see below for details on how I set this up
vcsh clone ssh://<remote>/mr.git
cd $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/config.d/
ln -s ../available.d/* .
-mr is used to actually retrieve configs, etc
+myrepos is used to actually retrieve configs, etc
~ % cat ~/.mrconfig
[DEFAULT]
~ % cd
~ % mr -j 5 up
-# 5 Usage #
-### 5.1 Keeping repositories Up-to-Date ###
+# myrepos usage ; will be factored out & rewritten
+
+### Keeping repositories Up-to-Date
This is the beauty of it all. Once you are set up, just run:
Neat.
-### 5.1 Making Changes ###
+### 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.
+ vcsh foo add bar baz quux
+ vcsh foo commit
+ vcsh foo push
-### 5.3 Using vcsh without mr ###
+### Using vcsh without myrepos
-vcsh encourages you to use [mr] [1]. It helps you manage a large number of
+vcsh encourages you to use [myrepos][myrepos]. 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
+to use myrepos, 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 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
+ vcsh zsh status
+ vcsh zsh add .zshrc
+ vcsh zsh commit
-Obviously, without mr keeping repositories up-to-date, it will have to be done
+Obviously, without myrepos 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
-----------
-mr can be found at: [http://kitenet.net/~joey/code/mr/][1]
+# 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]
+
-[1]: http://kitenet.net/~joey/code/mr/ (http://kitenet.net/~joey/code/mr/)
+[myrepos]: http://myrepos.branchable.com/
+[talks]: http://richardhartmann.de/talks/
+[vcsh]: https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh
+[vcs-home-list]: http://lists.madduck.net/listinfo/vcs-home
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