-vcsh - Version Control System for $HOME (based on git)
+vcsh - Version Control System for $HOME - multiple Git repositories in $HOME
-# Index #
+# Index
-1. [Introduction](#introduction)
-2. [30 second howto](#30-second-howto)
-3. [Overview](#overview)
-4. [Getting Started](#getting-started)
-5. [Usage](#usage)
+1. [30 Second How-to](#30-second-how-to)
+2. [Introduction](#introduction)
+3. [Usage Examples](#usage-examples)
+4. [Overview](#overview)
+5. [Getting Started](#getting-started)
6. [Contact](#contact)
-# Introduction #
+# 30 Second How-to
-[vcsh][vcsh] allows you to maintain several git repositories in one single
+While it may appear that there's an overwhelming amount of documentation and
+while the explanation of the concepts behind `vcsh` needs to touch a few gory
+details of `git` internals, getting started with `vcsh` is extremely simple.
+
+Let's say you want to version control your `vim` configuration:
+
+ vcsh init vim
+ vcsh vim add ~/.vimrc ~/.vim
+ vcsh vim commit -m 'Initial commit of my Vim configuration'
+ # optionally push your files to a remote
+ vcsh vim remote add origin <remote>
+ vcsh vim push -u origin master
+ # from now on you can push additional commits like this
+ vcsh vim push
+
+If all that looks a _lot_ like standard `git`, that's no coincidence; it's
+a design feature.
+
+
+# Introduction
+
+[vcsh][vcsh] allows you to maintain several Git repositories in one single
directory. They all maintain their working trees without clobbering each other
-or interfering otherwise. By default, all git repositories maintained via
-`vcsh` are stored in `$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
-# 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.
+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].
-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 origin master:master
+# Usage Examples
-If all that looks a _lot_ like standard `git`, that's no coincidence; it's
-a design feature.
+There are three different ways to interact with `vcsh` repositories; this
+section will only show the simplest and easiest way.
-Once you get familiar with `vcsh`, it's strongly suggested that you look
-into more advanced usage scenarios, especially on how to manage your
-`vcsh` and other repositories with [mr][mr].
+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.
-## 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].
+| 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
-## 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`.
-
-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.
-
-## Default Directory Layout ##
+`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 `$HOME`, you will end up with a lot of repositories very quickly.
+
+`vcsh` was designed with [myrepos][myrepos], a tool to manage Multiple
+Repositories, in mind and the two integrate very nicely. The myrepos tool
+(`mr`) has native support for `vcsh` repositories and the configuration for
+myrepos is just another set of files that you cat track with `vcsh` like any
+other. This makes setting up any new machine a breeze. It can take literally
+less than five minutes to go from standard installation to fully set up system.
+
+We suggest using [myrepos][myrepos] to manage both `vcsh` and other
+repositories. The `mr` utility takes care of pulling in and pushing
+out new data for a variety of version control systems. While the use
+of myrepos is technically optional, it will be an integral part of the
+proposed system that follows. For instance, you can use
+[myrepos][myrepos] to track repositories in home such as `.emacs.d`,
+which `mr` can clone and update for you automatically. To do this,
+just add a `mr` configuration file to `availabile.d` with a `checkout`
+command to clone the repo, and set the [title] to the desired
+location, e.g. `$HOME/.emacs.d`. Try the `mr register` command in an
+existing repository, then view `~/.mrconfig` for an example.
+
+## 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
+ checkout = vcsh clone 'git://github.com/RichiH/zshrc.git' 'zsh'
+ update = vcsh zsh pull
+ push = vcsh zsh push
+ status = vcsh zsh status
+ gc = vcsh zsh gc
+
+ [$HOME/.emacs.d]
+ checkout = vcsh clone 'git://github.com/andschwa/emacs.git' '.emacs.d'
-### 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`.
-## 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.
-# 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
-### The Template Way ###
+### The Template Way
-#### Prerequisites ####
+#### Prerequisites
Make sure none of the following files and directories exist for your test
(user). If they do, move them away for now:
-* ~/.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
-* $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/vcsh/repo.d/mr.git/
+* `~/.gitignore.d`
+* `~/.mrconfig`
+* `$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/`
All of the files are part of the template repository, the directory is where
the template will be stored.
- apt-get install mr
+### Install vcsh
-#### Install vcsh ####
+#### Debian
-#### Debian ####
+If you are using Debian Squeeze, you will need to enable backports and the
+package name for myrepos will be 'mr'.
-If you are using Debian Squeeze, you will need to enable backports
+From Wheezy onwards, you can install both directly:
- apt-get install vcsh
+ apt-get install myrepos vcsh
-#### Arch Linux ####
+#### Gentoo
-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).
+To install vcsh in Gentoo Linux just give the following command as root:
- 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
+ emerge dev-vcs/vcsh
-#### From source ####
+Note the portage package for myrepos still has the old project name:
-If your version of mr is older than version 1.07, make sure to put
+ emerge dev-vcs/mr
- include = cat /usr/share/mr/vcsh
+#### Arch Linux
-into your .mrconfig .
+vcsh is available via this [AUR](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/vcsh/)
+package. Likewise myrepos is available [here](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/myrepos/).
+You may install both useing your favorite AUR helper. e.g. with yaourt:
+
+ yaourt -Sya myrepos vcsh
+
+Or you can do it yourself manually using the documentation on installing AUR packages
+[on Arch's wiki](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_User_Repository#Installing_packages).
+
+If you prefer to use the devel package that installs the git HEAD version it
+is available [here](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/vcsh-git/).
+
+#### Mac OS X
+
+Formulas are available for vcsh as well as git and myrepos through [homebrew](http://brew.sh). The
+vcsh formula is set to depend on myrepos, so you only need one install command:
+
+ brew install vcsh
+
+#### From source
+
+To install the latest version from git:
# 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
- cd
+ sudo ln -s vcsh /usr/local/bin # or add it to your PATH
-#### Clone the Template ####
+For myrepos:
+
+ # use checkout location from above
+ cd ~/work/git
+ git clone git://myrepos.branchable.com/ myrepos
+ cd myrepos
+ make install
+
+#### Clone the Template
vcsh clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh_mr_template.git mr
-#### Enable Your Test Repository ####
+#### Enable Your Test Repository
mv ~/.zsh ~/zsh.bak
mv ~/.zshrc ~/zshrc.bak
cd
mr up
-#### 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!
-### 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).
-### 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][myrepos] is used to actually retrieve configs, etc.
~ % 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
~ % mr -j 5 up
-# Usage #
+# myrepos usage ; will be factored out & rewritten
-### Keeping repositories Up-to-Date ###
+### Keeping repositories Up-to-Date
This is the beauty of it all. Once you are set up, just run:
Neat.
-### 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
-### 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
done
-# 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.
* Pull requests or issues on [https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh][vcsh]
-[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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