-vcsh(1) - manage and sync config files via git
-==============================================
+vcsh(1) - Version Control System for $HOME (based on git)
+=========================================================
## SYNOPSIS
+`vcsh` [<options>] <command>
+
`vcsh` clone <url> [<repo>]
`vcsh` delete <repo>
`vcsh` rename <repo> <newname>
-`vcsh` run <repo> <command>
+`vcsh` run <repo> <shell command>
+
+`vcsh` upgrade <repo>
+
+`vcsh` version
-`vcsh` seed-gitignore <repo>
+`vcsh` which <substring>
-`vcsh` setup <repo>
+`vcsh` write-gitignore <repo>
-`vcsh` <repo> <gitcommand>
+`vcsh` <repo> <git command>
+
+`vcsh` <repo>
## DESCRIPTION
can have one repository per config set (zsh, vim, ssh, etc), picking and
choosing which configs you want to use on which machine.
-`vcsh` is using a technique called fake bare git repositories, keeping <$GIT_DIR>
+`vcsh` is using a technique called fake bare Git repositories, keeping <$GIT_DIR>
in a different directory from <$GIT_WORK_TREE> which is pointed to <$HOME>.
The use of symlinks is not needed in this setup, making for a cleaner setup.
vcsh. That being said, you can easily use `vcsh` without `mr` if you prefer.
A sample configuration for `vcsh` and `mr` can be found at
-*https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh_mr_template*
+*https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh_mr_template* and used with `vcsh clone
+https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh_mr_template mr`.
Please note that you can always use a path instead of a name for <repo>.
This is needed to support mr and other scripts properly and of no concern to
## OPTIONS
+* -c:
+ Source <file> prior to other configuration files
+
+* -d:
+ Enable debug mode
+
+* -v:
+ Enable verbose mode
+
+## COMMANDS
+
* clone:
Clone an existing repository.
This is needed to support mr and other scripts properly and of no concern to
an interactive user.
-* seed-gitignore:
- Seed .gitignore.d/<repo> from git ls-files.
+* upgrade:
+ Upgrade repository to currently recommended settings.
+
+* version:
+ Print version information.
-* setup:
- Set up repository with recommended settings.
+* which <substring>:
+ Find <substring> in name of any tracked file.
+
+* write-gitignore:
+ Write .gitignore.d/<repo> via `git ls-files`.
* <repo> <gitcommand>:
- Shortcut to run `vcsh` on a repo. Will prepend `git` to <command> by itself.
+ Shortcut to run `vcsh` on a repo. Will prepend `git` to <command>.
+
+* <repo>:
+ Shortcut to run `vcsh enter <repo>`.
## ENVIRONMENT
As noted earlier, `vcsh` will set <$GIT_DIR> and <$GIT_WORK_TREE> to the
-appropriate values for fake bare git repositories.
+appropriate values for fake bare Git repositories.
+
+## CONFIG
+
+There are several ways to turn the various knobs on `vcsh`. In order of
+ascending precedence, they are:
+
+* `VARIABLE=foo vcsh`
+* </etc/vcsh/config>
+* <$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/config>
+* `vcsh -c <file>`
+
+Please note that those files are sourced. Any and all commands will be
+executed in the context of your shell.
+
+Interesting knobs you can turn:
+
+* <$VCSH_GITIGNORE>:
+ Can be either <exact> or <recursive>.
+
+ <exact> will seed the repo-specific <.gitignore> with all file and directory
+ names which `git ls-files` returns.
+
+ <recursive> will descend through all directories recursively additionally to
+ the above.
+
+ Defaults to <exact>.
+
+Less interesting knobs you could turn:
+
+* <$VCSH_DEBUG>:
+ Enter debug mode.
+
+* <$XDG_CONFIG_HOME>:
+ As specified in the 'XDG Base Directory Specification', see
+ <http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html>
+
+ Defaults to <$HOME/.config>.
+
+* <$VCSH_REPO_D>:
+ The directory where repositories are read from and stored.
+
+ Defaults to <$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/repo.d>.
+
+* <$VCSH_HOOK_D>:
+ The directory where hooks are read from.
+
+ Defaults to <$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/hooks-enabled>.
+
+* <$VCSH_BASE>:
+ The directory where repositories are checked out to.
+
+ Defaults to <$HOME>.
+
+
+## HOOK SYSTEM
+
+`vcsh` provides a hook system. Hook scripts must be executable and should be
+placed in <$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/hooks-available>. From there, they can be
+soft-linked into <$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/hooks-enabled>; `vcsh` will only
+execute hooks that are in this directory.
+
+Hooks follow a simple format. <pre-run> will be run before anything is run.
+If you want to have more than one script for a certain hook, just append
+any kind of string to order them. A system of <pre-run>, <pre-run.10>,
+<pre-run.20> etc is suggested; other options would be <pre-run-10> or
+<pre-run.sh>. A dot after the hook name is optional.
+
+If you want to create hooks for a specific <vcsh> repository, simply prepend
+the repository's name, followed by a dot, i.e. <zsh.pre-run>. Otherwise, the
+same rules as above apply. The dot between the repository's name and the hook
+is mandatory, though.
+
+Available hooks are <pre-enter>, <post-enter>, <pre-run>, <post-run>,
+<pre-upgrade>, and <post-upgrade>. If you need more, vcsh is trivial to patch,
+but please let upstream know so we can ship them by default.
+
+## DETAILED HOWTO AND FURTHER READING
+
+Manpages are often short and sometimes useless to glean best practices from.
+While the author tried to avoid this in this case, manpages can not cover
+detailed howtos.
+
+This software also comes with a file called <README.md>. It contains various
+approaches to setting up and using vcsh. You can view the file it as
+plain text or render it into various other formats via Markdown.
+
+On Debian-based systems, this file can be found in </usr/share/doc/vcsh>.
## SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
-`vcsh` allows you to execute arbitrary commands via `vcsh` run. For example,
-speaking, adding a `sudo`(8) rule for `vcsh` would be pretty stupid.
+`vcsh` allows you to execute arbitrary commands via `vcsh run`. For example,
+adding a `sudo`(8) rule for `vcsh` would be pretty stupid.
+
+Additionally, vcsh will source, i.e. execute, all files listed in <CONFIG>.
+You can put any and all commands into these config files and they will be
+executed.
## BUGS
None are known at this time, but reports and/or patches are more than welcome.
+## INTEROPERABILITY
+
+If you rely on `git submodule` use `git` 1.7.12 or later. Earlier versions
+do not clean internal variables properly before descending into submodules,
+resulting in unhappy end users.
+
## HISTORY
Like most people, the author initially made do with a single repository for all
config files, all of which were soft-linked into <$HOME>.
-Martin F. Krafft aka madduck came up with the concept of fake bare git
+Martin F. Krafft aka madduck came up with the concept of fake bare Git
repositories.
vcsh was initally written by madduck. This version is a re-implementation from
## COPYRIGHT
-Copyright 2011 Richard Hartmann <richih.mailinglist@gmail.com>
+Copyright 2011-2012 Richard Hartmann <richih.mailinglist@gmail.com>
-Licensed under the GNU GPL version 3 or higher.
+Licensed under the GNU GPL version 2 or higher.
https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh