dotdrop/README.md

# DOTDROP

[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/deadc0de6/dotdrop.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/deadc0de6/dotdrop)
[![License: GPL v3](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-GPL%20v3-blue.svg)](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0)
[![Coverage Status](https://coveralls.io/repos/github/deadc0de6/dotdrop/badge.svg?branch=master)](https://coveralls.io/github/deadc0de6/dotdrop?branch=master)
[![PyPI version](https://badge.fury.io/py/dotdrop.svg)](https://badge.fury.io/py/dotdrop)
[![AUR](https://img.shields.io/aur/version/dotdrop.svg)](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/dotdrop)
[![Python](https://img.shields.io/pypi/pyversions/dotdrop.svg)](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/dotdrop)

*Save your dotfiles once, deploy them everywhere*

[Dotdrop](https://github.com/deadc0de6/dotdrop) makes the management of dotfiles between different hosts easy.
It allows to store your dotfiles on git and automagically deploy
different versions of the same file on different setups.

It also allows to manage different *sets* of dotfiles.
For example you can have a set of dotfiles for your home laptop and
a different set for your office desktop. Those sets may overlap and different
versions of the same dotfiles can be deployed on different predefined *profiles*.
Or you may have a main set of dotfiles for your
everyday's host and a sub-set you only need to deploy to temporary
hosts (cloud VM, etc) that may be using
a slightly different version of some of the dotfiles.

Features:

* Sync once every dotfile on git for different usages
* Allow dotfiles templating by leveraging [jinja2](http://jinja.pocoo.org/)
* Dynamically generated dotfile contents with pre-defined variables
* Comparison between deployed and stored dotfiles
* Handling multiple profiles with different sets of dotfiles
* Easy import and update dotfiles
* Handle files and directories
* Support symlink of dotfiles
* Associate an action to the deployment of specific dotfiles
* Associate transformations for storing encrypted dotfiles
* Provide different solutions for handling dotfiles containing sensitive information

Check also the [blog post](https://deadc0de.re/articles/dotfiles.html),
the [example](#example), the [wiki](https://github.com/deadc0de6/dotdrop/wiki) or
how [people are using dotdrop](https://github.com/deadc0de6/dotdrop/wiki/people-using-dotdrop)
for more.

Quick start:
```bash
mkdir dotfiles && cd dotfiles
git init
git submodule add https://github.com/deadc0de6/dotdrop.git
sudo pip3 install -r dotdrop/requirements.txt
./dotdrop/bootstrap.sh
./dotdrop.sh --help
```

A mirror of this repository is available on gitlab under <https://gitlab.com/deadc0de6/dotdrop>.

## Why dotdrop ?

There exist many tools to manage dotfiles however not
many allow to deploy different versions of the same dotfile
on different hosts. Moreover dotdrop allows to specify the
set of dotfiles that need to be deployed on a specific profile.

See the [example](#example) for a concrete example on
why [dotdrop](https://github.com/deadc0de6/dotdrop) rocks.

---

**Table of Contents**

* [Installation](#installation)
* [Getting started](#gettins-started)
* [Documentation](#documentation)
* [Example](#example)

# Installation

There are multiple ways to install and use dotdrop.
It is recommended to install dotdrop [as a submodule](#as-a-submodule)
to your dotfiles git tree. Having dotdrop as a submodule guarantees that anywhere
you are cloning your dotfiles git tree from you'll have dotdrop shipped with it.

Below instructions show how to install dotdrop as a submodule. For alternative
installation instructions (with virtualenv, pypi, aur, snap, etc), see the
[wiki installation page](https://github.com/deadc0de6/dotdrop/wiki/installation).

Dotdrop is also available on
* pypi: https://pypi.org/project/dotdrop/
* aur (stable): https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/dotdrop/
* aur (git version): https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/dotdrop-git/
* snapcraft: https://snapcraft.io/dotdrop

## As a submodule

The following will create a git repository for your dotfiles and
keep dotdrop as a submodule:
```bash
$ mkdir dotfiles; cd dotfiles
$ git init
$ git submodule add https://github.com/deadc0de6/dotdrop.git
$ sudo pip3 install -r dotdrop/requirements.txt
$ ./dotdrop/bootstrap.sh
$ ./dotdrop.sh --help
```

For MacOS users, make sure to install `realpath` through homebrew
(part of *coreutils*).

Using this solution will need you to work with dotdrop by
using the generated script `dotdrop.sh` at the root
of your dotfiles repository.

To ease the use of dotdrop, it is recommended to add an alias to it in your
shell with the config file path, for example
```
alias dotdrop=<absolute-path-to-dotdrop.sh> --cfg=<path-to-your-config.yaml>'
```

For bash and zsh completion scripts see [the related doc](completion/README.md).

# Getting started

If starting fresh, the `import` command of dotdrop
allows to easily and quickly get a running setup.

Install dotdrop on one of your host and then import any dotfiles you want dotdrop to
manage (be it a file or a directory):
```bash
$ dotdrop import ~/.vimrc ~/.xinitrc
```

Dotdrop does two things:

* Copy the dotfiles in the *dotpath* directory
* Create the entries in the *config.yaml* file

Commit and push your changes.

Then go to another host where your dotfiles need to be managed as well,
clone the previously setup git tree
and compare local dotfiles with the ones stored by dotdrop:
```bash
$ dotdrop list
$ dotdrop compare --profile=<other-host-profile>
```

Then adapt any dotfile using the [template](https://github.com/deadc0de6/dotdrop/wiki/templating)
feature (if needed) and set a new profile for the current host by simply adding lines in
the config files, for example:

```yaml
...
profiles:
  host1:
    dotfiles:
    - f_vimrc
    - f_xinitrc
  host2:
    dotfiles:
    - f_vimrc
...
```

When done, you can install your dotfiles using

```bash
$ dotdrop install
```

That's it, a single repository with all your dotfiles for your different hosts.

For more options see `dotdrop --help` and the [wiki](https://github.com/deadc0de6/dotdrop/wiki).

For easy deployment the default profile used by dotdrop reflects the
*hostname* of the host on which it runs. It can be changed either with the
`-p --profile` switch or by defining the `DOTDROP_PROFILE` environment variable.

The config file is per default `config.yaml` and can be changed either
using the `-c --cfg` cli switch or by defining the `DOTDROP_CONFIG` environment
variable.

# Documentation

Dotdrop's documentation is hosted on [its wiki](https://github.com/deadc0de6/dotdrop/wiki).

# Example

Let's consider two hosts:

* **home**: home computer with hostname *home*
* **office**: office computer with hostname *office*

The home computer is running [awesomeWM](https://awesomewm.org/)
and the office computer [bspwm](https://github.com/baskerville/bspwm).
The *.xinitrc* file will therefore be different while still sharing some lines.
Dotdrop allows to store only one single *.xinitrc* but
to deploy different versions depending on where it is run from.

The following file is the dotfile stored in dotdrop containing
[jinja2](http://jinja.pocoo.org/) directives for the deployment based on the profile used.

Dotfile `<dotpath>/xinitrc`:
```bash
#!/bin/bash

# load Xresources
userresources=$HOME/.Xresources
if [ -f "$userresources" ]; then
      xrdb -merge "$userresources" &
fi

# launch the wm
{%@@ if profile == "home" @@%}
exec awesome
{%@@ elif profile == "office" @@%}
exec bspwm
{%@@ endif @@%}
```

The *if branch* will define which part is deployed based on the
hostname of the host on which dotdrop is run from.

And here's how the config file looks like with this setup.
Of course any combination of the dotfiles (different sets)
can be done if more dotfiles have to be deployed.

`config.yaml` file:
```yaml
config:
  backup: true
  create: true
  dotpath: dotfiles
dotfiles:
  f_xinitrc:
    dst: ~/.xinitrc
    src: xinitrc
profiles:
  home:
    dotfiles:
    - f_xinitrc
  office:
    dotfiles:
    - f_xinitrc
```

Installing the dotfiles (the `--profile` switch is not needed if
the hostname matches the *profile* entry in the config file):
```bash
# on home computer
$ dotdrop install --profile=home

# on office computer
$ dotdrop install --profile=office
```

Comparing the dotfiles:
```bash
# on home computer
$ dotdrop compare

# on office computer
$ dotdrop compare
```

# Contribution

If you are having trouble installing or using dotdrop,
[open an issue](https://github.com/deadc0de6/dotdrop/issues).

If you want to contribute, feel free to do a PR (please follow PEP8).

# License

This project is licensed under the terms of the GPLv3 license.