Welcome to DotMate, the streamlined solution for managing and syncing dotfiles across multiple systems. Whether you're setting up a new machine, organizing configurations, or maintaining consistency across environments, DotMate simplifies the entire process, saving you time, hassle, and manual work.
DotMate goes beyond basic dotfile management. Here’s what makes it stand out:
- Automatic Backups: DotMate backs up your current configurations automatically, so you’ll never lose a setup.
- Seamless Syncing: Keep your dotfiles synchronized across devices with a single update command.
- Fast Environment Setup: Install essential tools automatically, making new machine setups faster than ever.
- Clean Symlink Management with Stow: Use
stowto create organized symlinks for all configurations, ensuring a tidy setup. - Simple Clean-Up Tools: Quickly detect and remove broken symlinks, keeping your environment neat.
Start by cloning the DotMate repository to your home directory (or a preferred location):
git clone https://github.com/akshay-na/DotMate.git ~/dotfiles
cd ~/dotfilesRun the setup with:
sudo apt install make
make installThis command:
- Installs essential tools for your environment.
- Backs up any existing configurations to prevent accidental overwrites.
- Creates symlinks for dotfiles in the repository for easy configuration management.
Need only the symlinks? Use:
make stowThis command skips tool installation and only creates symlinks for your dotfiles.
Keeping your dotfiles up-to-date is as simple as running:
make updateIf you’re using .bashrc or .zshrc from this repository, DotMate has an auto-update feature that notifies you of available updates, so you always stay current.
DotMate automatically backs up any existing configurations in ~/dotfiles_backup/<timestamp>. So if you run make install or make stow by mistake, your previous settings are saved, making it easy to revert if needed.
Apply only the configurations you need with Stow. For example, to set up just the shell and nvim configurations:
make stow CONFIGS="shell nvim"This flexibility lets you sync only the configurations you want, giving you control over what gets applied to each machine.
DotMate comes with a set of essential configurations, but customization is easy! For personal tweaks without overwriting shared configurations, create a .<config_name>_local file. This way, you can keep global settings while adding machine-specific customizations.
| Configuration File | Local Customization File |
|---|---|
.gitconfig |
~/.gitconfig_local |
starship.toml |
~/.config/starship_local.toml |
.taskrc |
~/.taskrc_local |
.npmrc |
~/.npmrc_local |
.bashrc |
~/.bashrc_local |
.commonrc |
~/.commonrc_local |
.tmux.conf |
~/.tmux_local.conf |
.zshrc |
~/.zshrc_local |
For example, to add your own Starship prompt configuration, create a ~/.config/starship_local.toml file and add your customizations there. DotMate will load these local files if they exist, giving you full control.
Note: Local files override initial configurations, so double-check before saving to ensure it’s set up the way you want.
- Permissions: DotMate applies strict permissions on sensitive files, like
.gnupgand.ssh/config, to protect your data. Ensure you have permission to edit these files if needed. - Restoring Backups: Backups are saved in
~/dotfiles_backup/<timestamp>. To restore a previous configuration, simply copy files from this directory back to your home folder. - Need Help? Run
make helpto view available DotMate commands and their descriptions.
DotMate is open-source and always welcomes contributions! If you find issues, have feature requests, or want to contribute, please submit an issue or a pull request. Your feedback and contributions help improve DotMate for the community.
DotMate is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for more details.
Take the hassle out of dotfile management and setup with DotMate. 🎉 Get organized, stay consistent, and make dotfiling a breeze!