X-Git-Url: https://git.madduck.net/code/vcsh.git/blobdiff_plain/29361a983d6723c582e5600feff39ceabc9c590d..eaa61d166dc9101f8cc0c864c279b2a9e4cfed51:/README.md diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index bdc26bf..f641ce9 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -15,50 +15,64 @@ community around the general idea of version controlling your (digital) life. * IRC: #vcs-home on irc.oftc.net -* Mailing list: vcs-home@lists.madduck.net +* Mailing list: [http://lists.madduck.net/listinfo/vcs-home][vcs-home-list] -* Pull requests or issues on https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh +* Pull requests or issues on [https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh][vcsh] # 2 Introduction # -vcsh allows you to have several git repositories, all maintaining their working -trees in $HOME without clobbering each other. That, in turn, means you can have -one repository per config set (zsh, vim, ssh, etc), picking and choosing which -configs you want to use on which machine. - -vcsh was designed with [mr] [1] in mind so you might want to install that, as +[vcsh][vcsh] allows you to maintain several git repositories in one single +directory. They all maintain their working trees without clobbering each other +or interfering otherwise. By default, all git repositories maintained via +`vcsh` are stored in <$HOME> but you can override this setting if you want to. +All that 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. + +`vcsh` was designed with [mr][mr] in mind so you might want to install that, as well. -Read INSTALL.md for detailed setup instructions. +Read and for instructions specific to your operating +system. 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 +advantages of `vcsh`. See sections 3 and 4 for detailed instructions and examples. +## 2.1 Talks ## + +Some people found it useful to look at slides and videos explaining how `vcsh` +works. +They can all be found [on the author's talk page][talks]. + # 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 $HOME**, adding all their dotfiles (and possibly more) +single repository in <$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 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 $HOME**. +`vcsh` takes this second approach one step further. It expects +single-purpose repositories and stores them in a hidden directory (similar +to <~/.dotfiles>). However, it does not create symbolic links in <$HOME>; it +puts the actual files right into <$HOME>. -Furthermore, by making use of [mr] [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. +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. ## 3.2 Default Directory Layout ## @@ -98,7 +112,7 @@ To illustrate, this is what a possible directory structure looks like. ### available.d ### -The files you see in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d are mr configuration files +The files you see in $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/mr/available.d are mr configuration files that contain the commands to manage (checkout, update etc.) a single repository. vcsh repo configs end in .vcsh, git configs end in .git, etc. This is optional and your preference. For example, this is what a zsh.vcsh @@ -116,7 +130,7 @@ this repository and fork your own. ### config.d ### -$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 @@ -130,11 +144,13 @@ this: [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. @@ -152,11 +168,13 @@ 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 @@ -183,27 +201,58 @@ Make sure none of the following files and directories exist for your test * ~/.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 -#### 4.1.2 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 -#### 4.1.3 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 @@ -212,7 +261,7 @@ the template will be stored. cd mr up -#### 4.1.4 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: @@ -236,7 +285,9 @@ Done! You're welcome to clone the example repository: - vcsh 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). @@ -267,6 +318,8 @@ mr 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 @@ -329,8 +382,8 @@ manually. Alternatively, you could try something like this: vcsh run $repo git pull; done ----------- - -mr can be found at: [http://kitenet.net/~joey/code/mr/][1] -[1]: http://kitenet.net/~joey/code/mr/ (http://kitenet.net/~joey/code/mr/) +[mr]: http://kitenet.net/~joey/code/mr/ +[talks]: http://richardhartmann.de/talks/ +[vcsh]: https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh +[vcs-home-list]: http://lists.madduck.net/listinfo/vcs-home