X-Git-Url: https://git.madduck.net/code/vcsh.git/blobdiff_plain/cc6756d71ad1194f8bdb7f30da8d809b08b79d87..bd783abb285983f54bb27c9c43cf0bf61bed4447:/README.md?ds=sidebyside diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index ab9e5f9..4ecb54f 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -3,47 +3,12 @@ vcsh - Version Control System for $HOME (based on git) # Index # -1. [30 second howto](#30-second-howto) -2. [Contact](#contact) -3. [Introduction](#introduction) -4. [Overview](#overview) -5. [Getting Started](#getting-started) -6. [Usage](#usage) - - -# 30 second howto # - -While it may appear that there's an overwhelming amount of documentation and -while the explanation of the concepts behind `vcsh` needs to touch a few gory -details of `git` internals, getting started with vcsh is extremely simple. - -Let's say you want to version control your `vim` configuration: - - vcsh init vim - vcsh vim add ~/.vimrc ~/.vim - vcsh vim commit -m 'Initial commit of my Vim configuration' - # optionally push your files to a remote - vcsh vim remote add origin REMOTE - vcsh vim push origin master:master - -If all that looks a _lot_ like standard `git`, that's no coincidence; it's -a design feature. - -Once you get familiar with `vcsh`, it's strongly suggested that you look -into more advanced usage scenarios, especially on how to manage your -`vcsh` and other repositories with [mr][mr]. - - -# Contact # - -There are several ways to get in touch with the author and a small but committed -community around the general idea of version controlling your (digital) life. - -* IRC: #vcs-home on irc.oftc.net - -* Mailing list: [http://lists.madduck.net/listinfo/vcs-home][vcs-home-list] - -* Pull requests or issues on [https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh][vcsh] +1. [Introduction](#introduction) +2. [30 second howto](#30-second-howto) +3. [Overview](#overview) +4. [Getting Started](#getting-started) +5. [Usage](#usage) +6. [Contact](#contact) # Introduction # @@ -51,8 +16,8 @@ community around the general idea of version controlling your (digital) life. [vcsh][vcsh] allows you to maintain several git repositories in one single directory. They all maintain their working trees without clobbering each other or interfering otherwise. By default, all git repositories maintained via -`vcsh` are stored in <$HOME> but you can override this setting if you want to. -All that means that you can have one repository per application or application +`vcsh` are stored 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 users; picking and mixing which configurations you want to use where. @@ -60,42 +25,62 @@ 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. +`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 -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 -examples. +A lot of modern UNIX-based systems offer pacakges 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 ## Some people found it useful to look at slides and videos explaining how `vcsh` -works. +works instead of working through the docs, first. They can all be found [on the author's talk page][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. + +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 add origin REMOTE + vcsh vim push origin master:master + +If all that looks a _lot_ like standard `git`, that's no coincidence; it's +a design feature. + + # Overview ## 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 `$HOME`, adding all their dotfiles (and possibly more) to it. This works, of course, but can become a nuisance as soon as you try to manage more than one host. The next logical step is to create single-purpose repositories in, for example, -<~/.dotfiles> and to create symbolic links into <$HOME>. This gives you the +`~/.dotfiles` and to create symbolic links into `$HOME`. This gives you the flexibility to check out only certain repositories on different hosts. The downsides of this approach are the necessary manual steps of cloning and symlinking the individual repositories. `vcsh` takes this second approach one step further. It expects single-purpose repositories and stores them in a hidden directory (similar -to <~/.dotfiles>). However, it does not create symbolic links in <$HOME>; it -puts the actual files right into <$HOME>. +to `~/.dotfiles`). However, it does not create symbolic links in `$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 @@ -413,6 +398,18 @@ manually. Alternatively, you could try something like this: done +# 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][vcs-home-list] + +* Pull requests or issues on [https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh][vcsh] + + [mr]: http://kitenet.net/~joey/code/mr/ [talks]: http://richardhartmann.de/talks/ [vcsh]: https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh