# Index
-1. [Introduction](#introduction)
-2. [30 second howto](#30-second-howto)
-3. [Overview](#overview)
-4. [Getting Started](#getting-started)
-5. [Usage](#usage)
+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)
+# 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
+[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 `$HOME` but you can override this setting if you want to.
+or interfering otherwise. By default, all Git repositories maintained via
+`vcsh` store the actual files in `$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
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], a tool to manage Multiple Repositories, in
-mind and the two integrate very nicely. `mr` has native support for `vcsh`
-repositories and to `vcsh`, `mr` is just another configuration to track.
-This make setting up any new machine a breeze. It takes literally less than
-five minutes to go from standard installation to fully set up system
-
-A lot of modern UNIX-based systems offer pacakges for `vcsh`. In case yours
+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.
## Talks
Some people found it useful to look at slides and videos explaining how `vcsh`
-works instead of working through the docs, first.
-They can all be found [on the author's talk page][talks].
+works instead of working through the docs.
+All slides, videos, and further information can be found
+[on the author's talk page][talks].
-# 30 second howto
+# Usage Examples
-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.
+There are three different ways to interact with `vcsh` repositories; this
+section will only show the simplest and easiest way.
+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.
+`vcsh enter` and `vcsh run` will be covered in later sections.
-Let's say you want to version control your `vim` configuration:
+
+## 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 'Initial commit of my Vim configuration'
- # optionally push your files to a remote
- vcsh vim <remote> add origin REMOTE
+ 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
-If all that looks a _lot_ like standard `git`, that's no coincidence; it's
-a design feature.
+## 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
-## Comparison to Other Solutions
+## 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 `$HOME`, adding all their dotfiles (and possibly more)
downsides of this approach are the necessary manual steps of cloning and
symlinking the individual repositories.
-`vcsh` takes this second approach one step further. It expects
-single-purpose repositories and stores them in a hidden directory (similar
-to `~/.dotfiles`). However, it does not create symbolic links in `$HOME`; it
-puts the actual files right into `$HOME`.
+`vcsh` takes this approach one step further. It enables single-purpose
+repositories and stores them in a hidden directory. However, it does not create
+symbolic links in `$HOME`; it puts the actual files right into `$HOME`.
-Furthermore, by making use of [mr][mr], it makes it very easy to enable/disable
-and clone a large number of repositories. The use of `mr` is technically
-optional (see section 4.3), but it will be an integral part of the proposed
-system that follows.
+As `vcsh` allows you to put an arbitrary number of distinct repositories into
+your `$HOME`, you will end up with a lot of repositories very quickly.
+
+To manage both `vcsh` and other repositories, we suggest using [mr](mr). `mr`
+takes care of pulling in and pushing out new data for a variety of version
+control systems.
+
+`vcsh` was designed with [mr][mr], a tool to manage Multiple Repositories, in
+mind and the two integrate very nicely. `mr` has native support for `vcsh`
+repositories and to `vcsh`, `mr` is just another configuration to track.
+This make setting up any new machine a breeze. It takes literally less than
+five minutes to go from standard installation to fully set up system
+
+This is where `mr` comes in. While the use of `mr` is technically
+optional, but it will be an integral part of the proposed system that follows.
## Default Directory Layout
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
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
+Of course, [mr] [mr] 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
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 mr to clone the repositories: `cd; mr update`.
+4. Done.
Hopefully the above could help explain how this approach saves time by
#### 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
+ 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
~ % mr -j 5 up
-# Usage
+# mr usage ; will be factored out & rewritten
### Keeping repositories Up-to-Date
### Using vcsh without mr
-vcsh encourages you to use [mr] [1]. It helps you manage a large number of
+vcsh encourages you to use [mr][mr]. 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`
projects / code / vcsh.git / blobdiff