Managing Local and Remote Dot Files

This post describes how I like to think about and manage the dot files on both my local macOS dev machine, as well as any remote Linux server I use regularly – in one single setup.

TL;DR: Check out my dot files repo for the code. To get started you can just clone/fork and run one of the setup scripts.

My Dot Files

We all love dot files. A lot has been written about them, and there are many popular GitHub repos with cool examples. What makes mine different is the fact that I like to take them with me everywhere I go, including when SSH-ing into any server – both for work and personal use – even for the ones I’ve never used before!

They serve two purposes for me:

Not being attached to any particular dev machine – I rely on my dot files and the various setup scripts for a very quick ramp-up when moving to a new Mac.
Having maximum convenience and productivity anywhere possible.

My dot files include a lot of the typical shell/tools setup:

Shell¹
- Config
- Prompt
- Environment variables
- Aliases
- Handy utility functions
Vim
Tmux/Screen
Git/Mercurial

I also store the config files for some of my native Mac apps, including:

Alfred
Sublime Text
IntelliJ
iTerm

How It Works

My setup includes careful integration of the following:

Using git to store and version all files.
Precisely managing which dot file goes where.
Supporting both local (macOS) and remote (Linux) dot files, while also reusing the common parts.
Using the great sshrc script.
Configuring tmux/screen to work with sshrc.

Setup includes cloning the repo locally² and symlinking all files listed in links.

When SSH-ing somewhere, I use the sshrc command, which zips all files found in the ~/.sshrc.d directory (also managed by links), and extracts them to a temporary directory on the destination server. It then sources .sshrc to configure everything.

Lastly, I use my custom screenrc and tmuxrc commands on the server to open new sessions. These make sure that new sessions are initialized with everything extracted by sshrc.

Conclusion

This might sound complicated, but it works seamlessly and effortlessly. I no longer have to worry about keeping the various snowflake instances of my dot files on the various servers I use in sync, and I get to share a lot of the code that makes sense with my local Mac setup. I also don’t litter any server I connect to with local copies of my personal files since sshrc uses tmp files and cleans up after itself.

Interested? Take it for a spin: https://github.com/orrsella/dotfiles

Have a cool addition? Fork and add! Send a pull request if you think I should include in my setup as well.

I only use bash. I find comfort in knowing that any environment I work with has bash, without relying a specific configuration – that’s out of my control – having other shells like zsh, fish, etc. I feel like my dot files make it so I get a lot of the convenience of using other modern shells while having a consistent experience everywhere. This doesn’t mean you have to do the same. ↩
I like to use ~/.dotfiles. ↩