Version control dotfiles using a git bare repository

I keep all of my dotfiles versioned controlled using a git bare repository. There are loads of alternate solutions out there helping you to store your dotfiles under some sort of source control.

I have found this method the most useful in terms of keeping your dotfiles up-to-date with source control with minimal number of steps to be performed.

Why version-control dotfiles?

• useful when starting up a new job
• easy to setup new development machines
• Can share with other people
• You can keep a list of things that you need installing on a new machine

What is a git bare repository?

A standard git repository contains 2 working directories .git/ and project files within the project directory itself. On other hand, git bare repsitories have no working directories but store the git history files at the root of a project directory.

A standard git repository is created with just running git init from inside the project directory and a git bare repository is created with git init --bare <path/to/project/directory.git>

Setting up a dotfiles bare repository

All you need is to make sure is that you have git installed on your machine.

Setup

# Create a new git bare repository to track your dotfiles
git init --bare $HOME/.dotfiles.git

# Create an alias `dotfiles` to be used instead of `git` for working with the repository
# Add this alias to your shell configuration file
echo 'alias dotfiles="/usr/bin/git --git-dir=$HOME/.dotfiles.git/ --work-tree=$HOME"' >> $HOME/.bashrc

# reload the shell settings
source $HOME/.bashrc

# Prevent untracked files from showing up when we call dotfiles status
dotfiles config --local status.showUntrackedFiles no

That’s it. You’re now ready to use your dotfiles repository for managing your configuration files.

Usage

For interacting with your repository, use dotfiles instead of using the normal git command from anywhere.

Following is an example of adding your .vimrc configuration file to your dotfiles repository:

dotfiles status
dotfiles add .vimrc
dotfiles commit -m "Add vimrc"
dotfiles remote add origin git@github.com:username/dotfiles.git
dotfiles push origin master

Installing dotfiles onto a new system

Now that we have a dotfiles repository, lets take a look at how we can install this onto a new system.

Clone dotfiles into a bare repository in a “.dotfiles” folder of your $HOME directory

git clone --bare git@github.com:username/dotfiles.git $HOME/.dotfiles

Create an alias dotfiles to be used instead of git for working with the repository

alias dotfiles='/usr/bin/git --git-dir=$HOME/.dotfiles/ --work-tree=$HOME'

Checkout the content from the bare repository to your $HOME

dotfiles checkout

Finally, set the flag showUntrackedFiles to no on this specific (local) repository

dotfiles config --local status.showUntrackedFiles no

You should now have the dotfiles installed onto a new system.

Hopefully, this has helped you understanding how to easily manage and source control your configuration files.

Let me know about your own dotfiles in the comments below!