README.md

.files

All my dotfiles essential to setup a new environment go here.

This also contains frequently used commands in Mac and Linux.

How to install.

The files in this repository must be symlinked to their respective paths in the $HOME folder. We can do this manually or using GNU Stow. Since GNU Stow can automatically manage symlinked files, it is the recommended tool for setting up the dotfiles.

The first step is to clone this repository in your $HOME folder:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/dr563105/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles

1. Simulate changes

The first step is to run GNU Stow in simulation mode. This would warn about all possible errors without making any changes in the filesystem. You can do this with the command:

cd ~/.dotfiles
stow -n nvim # For nvim configuration
stow -n git # For git configuration

We may get some warning messages like the following one.

cd ~/.dotfiles
stow -n git
WARNING! stowing git would cause conflicts:
  * existing target is neither a link nor a directory: .gitconfig
All operations aborted.

This means that the file .gitconfig exists before the symlinking. We need to manually change its name so GNU Stow can create the symlink. My recommendation is to rename it:

mv ~/.gitconfig ~/.gitconfig.old

2. Make changes

After all conflicting files have been renamed, we should not get any warnings:

cd ~/.dotfiles
stow -n git
WARNING: in simulation mode so not modifying filesystem.

We can now write the changes to disk removing the -n modifier:

cd ~/.dotfiles
stow git