-vcsh - manage and sync config files via git
+vcsh - manage config files in $HOME via fake bare git repositories
# Index #
-1. Introduction
-2. Overview
-3. Getting Started
-4. Usage
+1. Contact
+2. Introduction
+3. Overview
+4. Getting Started
+5. Usage
-# 1 Introduction #
+# 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
+
+* Pull requests or issues on https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh
+
+# 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
advantages of vcsh. See sections 3 and 4 for detailed instructions and
examples.
-# 2 Overview
+## 2.1 Talks ##
+
+Some people found it useful to look at slides and videos explaining how vcsh works.
+They can all be found at [here](http://richardhartmann.de/talks/).
-## 2.1 Comparison to Other Solutions ##
+# 3 Overview
+
+## 3.1 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)
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.
-## 2.2 Default Directory Layout ##
+## 3.2 Default Directory Layout ##
To illustrate, this is what a possible directory structure looks like.
| | |-- tmux.vcsh -> ../available.d/tmux.vcsh
| | `-- vim.vcsh -> ../available.d/vim.vcsh
| `-- vcsh
+ | |-- config
| `-- repo.d
| |-- zsh.git -----------+
| |-- gitconfigs.git |
| `-- vim.git |
|-- [...] |
|-- .zshrc <----------------------+
- |-- .gitignore
+ |-- .gitignore.d
+ | `-- zsh
|-- .mrconfig
`-- .mrtrust
### available.d ###
-The files you see in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d are mr configuration files
+The files you see in $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/mr/available.d are mr configuration files
that contain the commands to manage (checkout, update etc.) a single
repository. vcsh repo configs end in .vcsh, git configs end in .git, etc. This
is optional and your preference. For example, this is what a zsh.vcsh
this repository and fork your own.
[$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
+ checkout = vcsh clone 'git://github.com/RichiH/zshrc.git' $MR_REPO
+ push = echo "Cannot push to read-only repo" >&2
+ #status = vcsh run $MR_REPO git $MR_ACTION
+ #commit = vcsh run $MR_REPO git $MR_ACTION
+ #gc = vcsh run $MR_REPO git $MR_ACTION
+
+The commented lines are only necessary if you are using `mr` prior to version
+1.11. Starting with this version, `vcsh` support is properly integrated.
### config.d ###
-$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d contains *all available* repositories. Only
+$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
[DEFAULT]
jobs = 5
- include = cat $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/config.d/*
+ # 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 ###
-$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/repo.d is the directory where all git repositories which
+$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.
Optionally, merge your local and your global configs afterwards and push with
`vcsh run foo git push`.
-## 2.3 Moving into a New Host ##
+## 3.3 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`
+ 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. Run mr to clone the repositories: `cd; mr update`.
-4. Done.
+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
If you want to give vcsh a try, follow the instructions below.
-# 3 Getting Started #
+# 4 Getting Started #
Below, you will find a few different methods for setting up vcsh:
2. The Steal-from-Template Way
3. The Manual Way
-### 3.1 The Template Way ###
+### 4.1 The Template Way ###
-#### 3.1.1 Prerequisites ####
+#### 4.1.1 Prerequisites ####
Make sure none of the following files and directories exist for your test
(user). If they do, move them away for now:
-* ~/.gitignore
+* ~/.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/
+* $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
-#### 3.1.2 Clone the Template ####
+#### 4.1.2 Install vcsh ####
+
+#### 4.1.2.1 Debian ####
+
+If you are using Debian Squeeze, you will need to enable backports
+
+ apt-get install vcsh
+#### 4.1.2.2 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
+
+#### 4.1.2.3 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 $HOME
mkdir -p ~/work/git
- cd !$
- git clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh.git vcsh
+ git clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh.git
cd vcsh
- ln -s vcsh /usr/local/bin # or add it to your PATH
+ ln -s vcsh /usr/local/bin # or add it to your PATH
cd
- vcsh clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh_mr_template.git mr.vcsh
-#### 3.1.3 Enable Your Test Repository ####
+#### 4.1.3 Clone the Template ####
+
+ vcsh clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh_mr_template.git mr
+
+#### 4.1.4 Enable Your Test Repository ####
mv ~/.zsh ~/zsh.bak
mv ~/.zshrc ~/zshrc.bak
cd
mr up
-#### 3.1.4 Set Up Your Own Repositories ####
+#### 4.1.5 Set Up Your Own Repositories ####
Now, it's time to edit the template config and fill it with your own remotes:
Done!
-### 3.2 The Steal-from-Template Way ###
+### 4.2 The Steal-from-Template Way ###
You're welcome to clone the example repository:
- git clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh_mr_template.git
+ 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).
-### 3.3 The Manual Way ###
+### 4.3 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.
~ % 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
~ % cd
~ % mr -j 5 up
-# 4 Usage #
+# 5 Usage #
-### 4.1 Keeping repositories Up-to-Date ###
+### 5.1 Keeping repositories Up-to-Date ###
This is the beauty of it all. Once you are set up, just run:
Neat.
-### 4.1 Making Changes ###
+### 5.1 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):
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.
-### 4.3 Using vcsh without mr ###
+### 5.3 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
projects / code / vcsh.git / blobdiff