Dotfiles

Table of Contents

1. Description

Notes about how to backup and restore configuration files (dotfiles) using a Git bare repository

2. Initialize the bare repo

git init --bare ~/.dotfiles

3. Set an alias

3.1. Bash

Add to ~/.bashrc 

alias cfg='git --git-dir="$HOME/.dotfiles" --work-tree="$HOME"'

3.2. Fish

Add this fish shell function to ~/.config/fish/functions/cfg.fish 

function cfg
    command git --git-dir="$HOME/.dotfiles" --work-tree="$HOME" $argv
end

4. Add files for Git to track

cfg add .bashrc

5. Commit the changes

cfg commit

6. List tracked files

cfg ls-files

7. Turn off output about untracked files when running cfg status

cfg config --local status.showUntrackedFiles no

8. Add foo as remote

cfg remote add foo git@foo:username/dotfiles.git

9. Track the remote main branch

cfg push --all -u foo

10. Pushing the changes from now on

cfg push foo

11. Restoring the dotfiles

Restoring the dotfiles when the alias might not be set, e.g. on a new install

11.1. Clone the bare repository

git clone --bare <url>/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles

11.2. Restoring

git --git-dir="$HOME/.dotfiles" --work-tree="$HOME" restore --staged --worktree --source HEAD "$HOME"

12. References