dotsync
dotsync keeps your local dotfiles in sync with a git repository and keeps multiple remote machines in sync, either with them pulling from the git repo or pushed via rsync
Master servers can be assigned, for cases where groups of machines are behind firewalls or only accessible from a certain location.
Requirements
dotsync assumes that you have ssh setup correctly, with ssh-agent and configs for correct usernames etc, if you can't 'ssh hostname' it probably wont work and if your asked for passwords it will take hours with any number of machines.
Installation
If you already have your dotfiles in a git repo...
cd ~/.dotfiles
git submodule add [email protected]:dotphiles/dotsync.git
git submodule update --init
If you dont...
Fork the main project on github
git clone --recursive [email protected]:*username*/dotphiles.git ~/.dotfiles
Copy your dotfiles into ~/.dotfiles without the dot...
List your dotfiles in dotsyncrc without the dot...
Checkin your changes...
git commit -a -m "Initial Commit"
git push
Then, symlink your dotfiles into place...
~/.dotfiles/dotsync/bin/dotsync -L
See the Configuration section for configuration info.
Then add hosts into dotsyncrc and dotsync -I -H hostname (at your own risk!)
Usage
-I - Initialise a machine using dotsync
-L - Symlink available dotfiles into $HOME
-u - Update to the latest copy of dotfiles
-U - Update to the latest copy of dotfiles inc submodules
-P - Push any local changes back to the repo (git only)
-H host - Perform action against host listed in config, can be 'ALL'
-a - Updates dotfiles on all known machines
-A - Updates dotfiles and submodules on all known machines
-r - Use rsync instead of git
-f conf - Config file, defaults to '~/.dotsyncrc' or '$DOTSYNCRC'
-d dotfiles - Location of dotfiles, defaults to '~/.dotfiles'
-l - List configured hosts and dotfiles to symlink
-c - Run an arbitrary shell command on all known machines
-g - Same as -c, but only on git configured machines
-v - Verbose
-h - Show help message
Configuration
~/.dotsyncrc
This config determines which hosts to sync, how, where from and which dotfiles to symlink into your homedir.
This file can be included in the repo, and dotsync will use it if its not already symlinked.
~/.dotfiles/.gitignore
Controls which files are ignored from being added to the git repo, add any temporary and 'secret' files here.
~/dotfiles/.rsyncignore
Controls which files are ignored when rsyncing a remote host, add any temporary and 'secret' files here.
Custom Dotfiles
Sometimes its handy to link a specific file on a specific machine, or to have a local dotfile in place instead.
If you have the following in dotsyncrc
[files]
dotfile
[endfiles]
dotsync will look for
~/$DOTFILES/dotfile.d/localhost
~/$DOTFILES/dotfile.d/$HOSTNAME
~/$DOTFILES/dotfile.d/$DOMAIN
And link the first one it finds instead of the standard dotfile. The localhost
dotfile should be excuded from your repo.
Machine specific Dotfiles
Sometimes you have a dotfile thats only for one machine and not symlinked on any others.
If you add the following to dotsyncrc
[hosts]
hostname.example.com git=ANY file=dotfile1/dotfile1,dotfile2:.linkto
[endhosts]
dotsync will link the following on hostname only
~/$DOTFILES/dotfile1/dotfile1 to ~/.dotfile1
~/$DOTFILES/dotfile1 to ~/.linkto
Remote Machines
WARNING! This is the least tested and resilient code, i use it to sync a few hundred machines without problem but you can easily wipe out your ssh keys on remote machines if anything goes wrong....be prepared
dotsync is based around the idea of having lots of remote machines, that you want to sync your dotfiles to.
e.g.
*origin*
----github------ remoteservers:r
/ | \ |
desktop:g----laptop:g----workdesktop:g
| |
mac-mini:r workservers:r
and the following dotsyncrc
[hosts]
laptop git=NONE
desktop git=laptop
mac-mini rsync=laptop
workdesktop git=laptop
workserver1 rsync=workdesktop
workserver2 rsync=workdesktop
workserver3 rsync=workdesktop
remoteserver1 rsync=workdesktop
remoteserver1 rsync=workdesktop
remoteserver3 rsync=workdesktop
[endhosts]
Runing a dotsync -A on laptop would
- git pull from github
- connect to workdesktop & desktop & git pull dotfiles from github
- rsync dotfiles to mac-mini
Runing a dotsync -A on workdesktop would
- git pull from github
- rsync dotfiles to workserver{1,2,3} & remoteserver{1,2,3}
These can all be done with dotsync -A -H ALL which when run on laptop, should
- git pull from github
- connect to workdesktop & desktop & git pull dotfiles from github
- rsync dotfiles to mac-mini
- ssh to workdesktop & rsync dotfiles to workserver{1,2,3} & remoteserver{1,2,3}
Backups
Existing dotfiles will be backed up in ~/.backup/dotfiles/
Existing dotfile repos will be backed up as ~/.backup/dotfiles.old/
License
Copyright (c) 2012 dotsync contributers
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.