X-Git-Url: https://git.madduck.net/code/vcsh.git/blobdiff_plain/2cba2ad7bd28fd65df380511b29527c9e203d3a0..310a7c48c640f7a713635c1c81527d21aabb5975:/README.md?ds=sidebyside diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 7a2ba04..f641ce9 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -1,59 +1,85 @@ -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 # -vcsh allows you to have several git repositories, all maintaining their working -trees in $HOME without clobbering each other. That, in turn, means you can have -one repository per config set (zsh, vim, ssh, etc), picking and choosing which -configs you want to use on which machine. +There are several ways to get in touch with the author and a small but committed +community around the general idea of version controlling your (digital) life. -vcsh was designed with [mr] [1] in mind so you might want to install that, as +* IRC: #vcs-home on irc.oftc.net + +* Mailing list: [http://lists.madduck.net/listinfo/vcs-home][vcs-home-list] + +* Pull requests or issues on [https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh][vcsh] + +# 2 Introduction # + +[vcsh][vcsh] allows you to maintain several git repositories in one single +directory. They all maintain their working trees without clobbering each other +or interfering otherwise. By default, all git repositories maintained via +`vcsh` are stored in <$HOME> but you can override this setting if you want to. +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 Overview +## 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]. -## 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 $HOME**, adding all their dotfiles (and possibly more) +single repository in <$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. -## 2.2 Default Directory Layout ## +## 3.2 Default Directory Layout ## To illustrate, this is what a possible directory structure looks like. $HOME - |-- .config + |-- $XDG_CONFIG_HOME (defaults to $HOME/.config) | |-- mr | | |-- available.d | | | |-- zsh.vcsh @@ -71,6 +97,7 @@ 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 | @@ -78,20 +105,23 @@ To illustrate, this is what a possible directory structure looks like. | `-- vim.git | |-- [...] | |-- .zshrc <----------------------+ - |-- .gitignore + |-- .gitignore.d + | `-- zsh |-- .mrconfig `-- .mrtrust ### available.d ### -The files you see in ~/.config/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.mrconfig with read-only -access to my zshrc repo looks likes. I.e. in this specific example, push can -not work. +The files you see in $XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/mr/available.d are mr configuration files +that contain the commands to manage (checkout, update etc.) a single +repository. vcsh repo configs end in .vcsh, git configs end in .git, etc. This +is optional and your preference. For example, this is what a zsh.vcsh +with read-only access to my zshrc repo looks likes. I.e. in this specific +example, push can not work as you will be using the author's repository. This +is for demonstration, only. Of course, you are more than welcome to clone from +this repository and fork your own. - [$HOME/.config/vcsh/repo.d/zsh.git] + [$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/repo.d/zsh.git] checkout = vcsh clone 'git://github.com/RichiH/zshrc.git' zsh update = vcsh run zsh git pull push = vcsh run zsh git push @@ -100,7 +130,7 @@ not work. ### config.d ### -~/.config/mr/available.d contains *all available* repositories. Only +$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 @@ -114,32 +144,37 @@ this: [DEFAULT] jobs = 5 - include = cat ~/.config/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 ### -~/.config/vcsh/repo.d is the directory into which vcsh clones the git -repositories. Since their working trees are configured to be in $HOME, the -files contained in those repositories will be put in $HOME directly (see .zshrc -above). - +$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). 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`. -## 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 @@ -149,7 +184,7 @@ 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: @@ -157,50 +192,81 @@ 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 -* ~/.config/mr/available.d/mr.vcsh -* ~/.config/mr/available.d/zsh.vcsh -* ~/.config/mr/config.d/mr.vcsh -* ~/.config/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 ~/.config/mr/config.d/ + cd $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/config.d/ ln -s ../available.d/zsh.vcsh . # link, and thereby enable, the zsh repository 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: - vim .config/mr/available.d/mr.vcsh - vim .config/mr/available.d/zsh.vcsh + vim $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d/mr.vcsh + vim $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d/zsh.vcsh And then create your own stuff: @@ -210,22 +276,24 @@ And then create your own stuff: vcsh run foo git commit vcsh run foo git push - cp .config/mr/available.d/mr.vcsh .config/mr/available.d/foo.vcsh - vim .config/mr/available.d/foo.vcsh # add your own repo + 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! -### 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. @@ -242,7 +310,7 @@ copy mine verbatim, either is fine. Grab my mr config. see below for details on how I set this up vcsh clone ssh:///mr.git - cd ~/.config/mr/config.d/ + cd $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/config.d/ ln -s ../available.d/* . @@ -250,7 +318,9 @@ mr is used to actually retrieve configs, etc ~ % cat ~/.mrconfig [DEFAULT] - include = cat ~/.config/mr/config.d/* + # 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 ~ % ls $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d # random selection of my repos @@ -261,9 +331,9 @@ mr is used to actually retrieve configs, etc ~ % 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: @@ -272,7 +342,7 @@ 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): @@ -285,7 +355,7 @@ 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. -### 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 @@ -312,8 +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