# Dotfiles: Best way to store in a bare git repository

_Disclaimer: the title is slightly hyperbolic, there are other proven solutions to the problem. I do think the technique below is very elegant though._

Recently I read about this amazing technique in an [Hacker News thread](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11070797) on people's solutions to store their [dotfiles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-file). User `StreakyCobra` [showed his elegant setup](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11071754) and ... It made so much sense! I am in the process of switching my own system to the same technique. The only pre-requisite is to install [Git](https://www.atlassian.com/git).

In his words the technique below requires:

No extra tooling, no symlinks, files are tracked on a version control system, you can use different branches for different computers, you can replicate you configuration easily on new installation.

The technique consists in storing a [Git bare repository](http://www.saintsjd.com/2011/01/what-is-a-bare-git-repository/) in a "_side_" folder (like `$HOME/.cfg` or `$HOME/.myconfig`) using a specially crafted alias so that commands are run against that repository and not the usual `.git` local folder, which would interfere with any other Git repositories around.

----------

## Starting from scratch

----------

If you haven't been tracking your configurations in a Git repository before, you can start using this technique easily with these lines:

```bash
git init --bare $HOME/.cfg
alias config='/usr/bin/git --git-dir=$HOME/.cfg/ --work-tree=$HOME'
config config --local status.showUntrackedFiles no
echo "alias config='/usr/bin/git --git-dir=$HOME/.cfg/ --work-tree=$HOME'" >> $HOME/.bashrc
```

-   The first line creates a folder `~/.cfg` which is a [Git bare repository](http://www.saintsjd.com/2011/01/what-is-a-bare-git-repository/) that will track our files.
-   Then we create an alias `config` which we will use instead of the regular `git` when we want to interact with our configuration repository.
-   We set a flag - local to the repository - to hide files we are not explicitly tracking yet. This is so that when you type `config status` and other commands later, files you are not interested in tracking will not show up as `untracked`.
-   Also you can add the alias definition by hand to your `.bashrc` or use the the fourth line provided for convenience.

I packaged the above lines into a [snippet](https://bitbucket.org/snippets/nicolapaolucci/ergX9) up on Bitbucket and linked it from a short-url. So that you can set things up with:

```bash
curl -Lks http://bit.do/cfg-init | /bin/bash
```

After you've executed the setup any file within the `$HOME` folder can be versioned with normal commands, replacing `git` with your newly created `config` alias, like:

```bash
config status
config add .vimrc
config commit -m "Add vimrc"
config add .bashrc
config commit -m "Add bashrc"
config push
```

## Merge or Rebase?

If you have more than one pc and you want to store their dotfile you can have a main repo for the common configs and then a machine specific repo. When you make some changes in the main repo you have to do a merge or a rebase to main.
I suggest you to do a merge because is a not destructive opertion, but there is a disadvantage: you'll have a extra commit (the merge one). If you prefer to do a rebase you instead won't get a merge commit but you have to do a full rewrite of the commits, this can cause some problem if you like to change your machine config from another pc and then do a git pull because after you do a rebase the history is totally different, so you have do another git clone or something else to pull that changes (rebase).

### Performing a merge after changes in the main repo

After you've made some changes in the main repo the machine specific repositories need to be merged with main:
```bash
config checkout machine-repo
config merge main
config push origin machine-repo
```
Now you have merged the changes. (In the process you may have to resolve conflicts) 

### Performing a rebase after changes in the main repo

After you've made some changes in the main repo the machine specific repositories need to be rebased on top of main:

```bash
config checkout machine-repo
config rebase main
config log --all # check if everything is ok because we need a force push after
config push -f origin machine-repo
```

## Installing your dotfiles onto a new system (or migrate to this setup)

----------

If you already store your configuration/dotfiles in a [Git repository](https://www.atlassian.com/git), on a new system you can migrate to this setup with the following steps:

-   Prior to the installation make sure you have committed the alias to your `.bashrc` or `.zsh`:

```bash
alias config='/usr/bin/git --git-dir=$HOME/.cfg/ --work-tree=$HOME'
```

-   And that your source repository ignores the folder where you'll clone it, so that you don't create weird recursion problems:

```bash
echo ".cfg" >> .gitignore
```

-   Now clone your dotfiles into a [bare](http://www.saintsjd.com/2011/01/what-is-a-bare-git-repository/) repository in a "_dot_" folder of your `$HOME`:

```bash
git clone --bare <git-repo-url> $HOME/.cfg
```

-   Define the alias in the current shell scope:

```bash
alias config='/usr/bin/git --git-dir=$HOME/.cfg/ --work-tree=$HOME'
```

-   Checkout the actual content from the bare repository to your `$HOME`:

```undefined
config checkout
```

-   The step above might fail with a message like:

```js
error: The following untracked working tree files would be overwritten by checkout:
    .bashrc
    .gitignore
Please move or remove them before you can switch branches.
Aborting
```

This is because your `$HOME` folder might already have some stock configuration files which would be overwritten by Git. The solution is simple: back up the files if you care about them, remove them if you don't care. I provide you with a possible rough shortcut to move all the offending files automatically to a backup folder:

```bash
mkdir -p .config-backup && \
config checkout 2>&1 | egrep "\s+\." | awk {'print $1'} | \
xargs -I{} mv {} .config-backup/{}
```

-   Re-run the check out if you had problems:

```undefined
config checkout
```

-   Set the flag `showUntrackedFiles` to `no` on this specific (local) repository:

```bash
config config --local status.showUntrackedFiles no
```

-   You're done, from now on you can now type `config` commands to add and update your dotfiles:

```bash
config status
config add .vimrc
config commit -m "Add vimrc"
config add .bashrc
config commit -m "Add bashrc"
config push
```

Again as a shortcut not to have to remember all these steps on any new machine you want to setup, you can create a simple script, [store it as Bitbucket snippet](https://bitbucket.org/snippets/nicolapaolucci/7rE9K) like I did, [create a short url](http://bit.do/) for it and call it like this:

```bash
curl -Lks http://bit.do/cfg-install | /bin/bash
```

For completeness this is what I ended up with (tested on many freshly minted [Alpine Linux](http://www.alpinelinux.org/) containers to test it out):

```bash
git clone --bare https://bitbucket.org/durdn/cfg.git $HOME/.cfg
function config {
   /usr/bin/git --git-dir=$HOME/.cfg/ --work-tree=$HOME $@
}
mkdir -p .config-backup
config checkout
if [ $? = 0 ]; then
  echo "Checked out config.";
  else
    echo "Backing up pre-existing dot files.";
    config checkout 2>&1 | egrep "\s+\." | awk {'print $1'} | xargs -I{} mv {} .config-backup/{}
fi;
config checkout
config config status.showUntrackedFiles no
```