nedots

sourcehut | github | crates.io

A smart, safe and intuitive dotfiles management tool.

Run nedots help / nedots --help / nedots for documentation.

If you'd like to see it in action, you can check out a build. The builds run with the maximum level of verbosity, so everything it does is logged to stdout. The builds showcase all of the functionality - it's not the most tangible "demo", but it does give you a peek at what it does.

TODO

• I'd avoid running this as root. I need to ensure that file operations are carried out by the correct user.

nedots.yml

You can find the configuration file @ $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nedots/nedots.yml. If $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is not set, then $HOME/.config/nedots/nedots.yml.

When you use nedots, you maintain a small file that contains the address of your remote git repository, a list of directories or files, and a list of git submodules.

Field	Type	Description
remote	String	The remote git repository address. https:// or ssh (git@) work, but ssh (read/write) should be preferred.
sources	List<String>	A list of directories or files that nedots will manage.
git_repos	List<GitRepo>	A list of GitRepo, see GitRepo model below.

GitRepo

Field	Type	Description
remote	String	Remote git repository.
path	String	Local path of GitRepo, relative to $HOME.

Here is a small example:

remote: [email protected]:~nedia/nedots
sources:
  - .config/bspwm
  - .profile
  - /etc/hostname
  - Wallpapers
git_repos:
  - repo:
    remote: [email protected]:~nedia/config.nvim
    path: .config/nvim

sources

Operations such as install will copy these files from $XDG_DATA_HOME/nedots/{source} to $HOME/{source}. If $XDG_DATA_HOME is not set, then $HOME/.local/share/nedots is used.

Conversely, gather will copy files from $HOME/{source} to $XDG_DATA_HOME/nedots/{source}.

Directories will be copied recursively. Paths can be owned by you, or another, but the correct permissions will be required at runtime to perform operations on paths that are not owned by you - you will need to run sudo nedots to install or gather files in /etc/ for example.

Usage

So you're new to this style of storing your dotfiles but the chances are you've got a git repository for storing your dotfiles. That's some of the work done already.

# To set `nedots` up in its default location `$XDG_DATA_HOME/nedots` or `$HOME/.local/share/nedots`.
nedots init <remote>

Next, you'll need to edit nedots.yml - sources specifically, so that nedots sync can collect your files. It'll then copy them to $XDG_DATA_HOME/nedots/dots.

# Recommend adding `--nopush` so `nedots` won't push these changes to remote.
# You can review them first. Gather is responsible for collecting your files.
nedots sync --gather --nopush

File structure will then look something like this:

tree .local/share/nedots/dots -a
.local/share/nedots/dots
├── etc
│   └── hostname
└── home
    └── aiden
        ├── .config
        │   └── bspwm
        │       ├── bspwmrc
        │       ├── external_rules
        │       └── floating_desktop
        ├── .profile
        └── Wallpapers
            ├── wallhaven-9dxo58.jpg
            ├── wallhaven-dp118j.png
            ├── wallhaven-l35myl.jpg
            ├── wallhaven-q2mgqd.jpg
            ├── wallhaven-v9dez8.jpg
            ├── wallhaven-vqxgql.png
            ├── wallhaven-wqpgw6.png
            ├── wallhaven-y89del.png
            └── wallhaven-zm9kpy.jpg

7 directories, 14 files

That's it! Now anytime you make changes to the files or folders defined in sources, running nedots sync -g/--gather will collect the files and push them to remote.

Install

OS/Method	Command
Cargo	cargo install nedots
GitHub/Releases	Download binary here
Arch (AUR)	yay -S nedots

Build from Source

See rustup.

# rustup
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
source $HOME/.cargo/env

# stable channel
rustup toolchain install stable
rustup default stable

# clone & build
git clone https://git.sr.ht/~nedia/nedots.rs
cd nedots.rs
cargo build --release

# symlink to .local/bin
ln -s target/release/nedots ~/.local/bin/nedots