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dotsync

★ 344 Open GitHub ↗

Sync dotfiles between multiple machines from a git repo or push using rsync

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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 git@github.com:dotphiles/dotsync.git
    git submodule update --init

If you dont...

Fork the main project on [github](https://github.com/dotphiles/dotphiles)

git clone --recursive git@github.com:*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.

See [templates/dotsyncrc][6]

### ~/.dotfiles/.gitignore

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

See [templates/gitignore][7]

### ~/dotfiles/.rsyncignore

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

See [templates/rsyncignore][8]

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
-------

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.

[1]: https://github.com/dotphiles/dotsync/contributors
[2]: https://github.com/dotphiles/dotsync/issues
[3]: http://gun.io/blog/how-to-github-fork-branch-and-pull-request
[4]: http://tbaggery.com/2008/04/19/a-note-about-git-commit-messages.html
[5]: https://help.github.com/articles/using-pull-requests
[6]: https://github.com/dotphiles/dotsync/blob/master/templates/dotsyncrc
[7]: https://github.com/dotphiles/dotsync/blob/master/templates/gitignore
[8]: https://github.com/dotphiles/dotsync/blob/master/templates/rsyncignore
[9]: https://github.com/dotphiles/dotsync/graphs/contributors

dotsync

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