Dotfiles

This is how I set up my own personal shell, vim, and terminal configuration managed with a bare git repo.

Reset (for testing or starting over)

rm -rf $HOME/.cfg
rm -f ~/.zshrc ~/.p10k.zsh ~/.vimrc ~/.dircolors
rm -rf ~/.oh-my-zsh-custom
rm -rf ~/.oh-my-zsh
rm -rf ~/.vim

New machine setup

1. Install prerequisites

# Debian/Ubuntu:
sudo apt install zsh git curl vim

# macOS:
brew install git coreutils

2. Install oh-my-zsh

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

3. Clone and restore dotfiles

git clone --bare https://github.com/Ackthbpt/env.git $HOME/.cfg
alias dotfiles="$(which git) --git-dir=$HOME/.cfg/ --work-tree=$HOME"
dotfiles config --local status.showUntrackedFiles no
dotfiles config pull.rebase false
dotfiles checkout 2>/dev/null
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
  dotfiles checkout 2>&1 | grep -E "^\s+" | awk '{print $1}' | \
    xargs -I{} mv {} {}.bak
  dotfiles checkout
fi

4. Install third-party zsh plugins and themes

These are not tracked in the repo and must be cloned on each machine. They go into ~/.oh-my-zsh-custom/ which is set as ZSH_CUSTOM in .zshrc.

# powerlevel10k theme
git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git \
  $HOME/.oh-my-zsh-custom/themes/powerlevel10k

# zsh-autosuggestions
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions \
  $HOME/.oh-my-zsh-custom/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions

# zsh-syntax-highlighting
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting \
  $HOME/.oh-my-zsh-custom/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting

# zsh-completions
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-completions \
  $HOME/.oh-my-zsh-custom/plugins/zsh-completions

# autoupdate (auto-updates custom plugins)
git clone https://github.com/TamCore/autoupdate-oh-my-zsh-plugins \
  $HOME/.oh-my-zsh-custom/plugins/autoupdate

5. Install vim-plug and plugins

curl -fLo ~/.vim/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim

vim +PlugInstall +qall

6. Restart shell

exec zsh

Pushing changes

Pulling uses HTTPS and works anywhere. Pushing requires an SSH key on each machine.

One-time SSH key setup (per machine)

ssh-keygen -t ed25519
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Add the output to GitHub: Settings → SSH and GPG keys → New SSH key

Then set the push URL to SSH:

dotfiles remote set-url --push origin git@github.com:Ackthbpt/env.git

Day-to-day usage

dotfiles status
dotfiles add [WHATEVER]
dotfiles commit -m "[DID THINGS]"
dotfiles push

Switching to root

sudo -E -s

The -E flag preserves your environment (including $HOME and shell config) and -s starts a shell. You'll get your full zsh setup with colors and prompt as root. Be careful in your home directory because you can set files to be owned by root and that WILL cauae issues down the line.

If your distro blocks -E (some lock this down in sudoers), fall back to visudo and add:

Defaults:[YOUR_USERNAME_HERE]   env_keep += "HOME"
Defaults:[YOUR_USERNAME_HERE]   !always_set_home

There are security implications to this, so be aware when implementing.

What's tracked vs. what's installed

Tracked in this repo (your personal config files):

• .zshrc, .p10k.zsh, .vimrc, .dircolors
• .oh-my-zsh-custom/aliases.zsh
• .oh-my-zsh-custom/functions.zsh
• .oh-my-zsh-custom/macos.zsh
• .oh-my-zsh-custom/plugins/autoupdate/autoupdate.plugin.zsh

Not tracked (installed by their own tools on each machine):

• oh-my-zsh
• powerlevel10k, zsh-autosuggestions, zsh-syntax-highlighting, zsh-completions
• vim-plug and all vim plugins
• coreutils (macOS only, for gdircolors and gls)