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 --init update

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
-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.

See templates/dotsyncrc

~/.dotfiles/.gitignore

Controls which files are ignored from being added to the git repo, add any temporary and 'secret' files here.

See templates/gitignore

~/dotfiles/.rsyncignore

Controls which files are ignored when rsyncing a remote host, add any temporary and 'secret' files here.

See templates/rsyncignore

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.

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=ANY
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.