this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2023
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I'm looking for recommendations for a dotfile manager - there are so many out there I've got a bit of options paralysis!

I'd like a system that can backup all my dotfiles - with version management - and, if I nuked my home directory, could restore them all for me with a simple command.

Thanks in advance for you suggestions!

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks - yes I do have that, but I also wanted something specific to my dotfiles to make management and restoration a bit easier.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I have a vorta backup, running on a regular basis for my home dir which has GBs of data.

Mounting and restoring files is literally a matter of seconds.

But if you want something that you can easily take with you, you can go with a symlink/git approach:

  • have a folder "configs"
  • move all your dotfiles thst have NO sensitive data like credentials into that folder
  • symlink them into their proper place
  • use GIT to track them and push them to a git repo

Once you need them somewhere else, it's just a git pull away... easy as that.

What I dislike about existing solutions, is they come with their own binaries, conventions, and stuff, but basically do almost the same... this is the "raw way" that will hold up on any system, and almost all of them have git.