dotlink

A simple program that can help you link all your dotfiles in place.

Supports multiple presets, in order to avoid linking every file in every machine.

If you need additional info make sure to visit the project on github.

Features!

• Simple configuration file (TOML, YAML or JSON).
• Ability to have multiple presets for different machines.
• Cross-Platform (Unix and Windows).
• Doesn't overwrite links or files.
• If a link alreay exists, checks if it points to the right file.

A real life use case (simplicity showcase)

I've setup my own dotfiles repo with a dotlink.toml file.

In my case i simply clone the repo and run dotlink inside of it.

$ git clone https://github.com/TheRealLorenz/dotfiles.git
$ cd dotfiles
$ dotlink -p macOS

The program automatically picks up the config file inside the current working directory and links everything!

How does it work?

dotlink relies on a config file, named dotlink.toml, dotlink.yaml or dotlink.json.

In the config file you can specify multiple presets, where every presets is a vector of entries.

Presets are top level keys of the config file.

There are two types of entries:

• Simple entries:

[[preset_name]]
name = 'foo'                        # File name
to = '/path/to/destination'         # Destination directory
rename = 'foo2'                     # Link name (optional, defaults to the file name)

preset_name:
  - name: 'foo'                     # File name
    to: '/path/to/destination'      # Destination directory
    rename: 'foo2'                  # Link name (optional, defaults to the file name)

{
  "preset_name": [
    {
      "name": "foo",                // File name
      "to": "/path/to/destination", // Destination directory
      "rename": "foo2"              // Link name (optional, defaults to the file name)
    }
  ]
}

• Multiple entries:

[[preset_name]]
names = [ 'foo', 'bar', 'baz' ]         # Multiple file names
to = '/path/to/destination/'            # Destination directory

preset_name:
  - names: [ 'foo', 'bar', 'baz' ]      # Multiple file names
    to: '/path/to/destination/'         # Destination directory

{
  "preset_name": [
    {
      "names": [ "foo", "bar", "baz" ], // Multiple file names
      "to": "/path/to/destination/"     // Destination directory
    }
  ]
}

The program then simply symlinks every file specified by name or names to the corresponding to.

Usage

Running dotlink -h will show the help message

Usage: dotlink [OPTIONS] [PATH]

Arguments:
  [PATH]  

Options:
  -p, --preset <PRESET>  Which preset to use [default: default]
  -l, --list-presets     
  -F, --file <FILE>      Custom config file location
      --dry-run          
  -h, --help             Print help

PATH represents the path to the dotfiles. Defaults to the current working directory.