Profile Management with Git and GitHub

The following describes a simple way to manage you profile configuration files using GitHub.

Features

Centralized configuration management
Files live in their native locations (no symbolic linking)
Home directory is not a Git repository
All the power of git with a simple alias

Setup Repository

Log into GitHub and create a repository named config
Add your public keys to GitHub (if you haven't done so already)
Open a terminal and switch to your home directory
```
cd ~
```
Create a configuration directory
```
mkdir .config.git
```

Add the following alias to your current session and your .bash_profile

alias config='git --git-dir=$HOME/.config.git/ --work-tree=$HOME'
echo "alias config='git --git-dir=$HOME/.config.git/ --work-tree=$HOME'" >> .bash_profile

Add your .bash_profile to the configuration repository
```
config add .bash_profile
```
Commit the changes
```
config commit -m 'Initial commit'
```

Change the origin to GitHub

config remote add origin git@github.com:GITHUB_USERNAME/config.git

Push the changes
```
config push origin master
```

If you get an error when running config pull to the effect of You asked me to pull without... run the follow:

    echo -e '[branch "master"]\n  remote = origin\n  merge = refs/heads/master' >> ~/.config.git/config

Setup Configuration Management on a Different System

Add your public keys to GitHub (if you haven't done so already)
Switch to your home directory
```
cd ~
```
Backup your local configuration files, example:
```
mv .bash_profile .bash_profile.bk
```

Clone your configuration repository

git clone git@github.com:GITHUB_USERNAME/config.git config.git

Move the git metadata to ~/.config.git
```
mv config.git/.git .config.git
```
Enable dotglob
```
shopt -s dotglob
```
Move your configuration files to your home directory
```
mv -i config.git/* .
```
Delete the config.git directory
```
rmdir config.git
```
Logout and log back in

Basic Usage

config pull - get latest configuration changes
config add FILENAME - add a configuration file
config commit -a - save all configuration changes
config push - push configuration changes to GitHub
and any other config GIT_OPTION

You can see my configuration repository at http://github.com/silas/config.

Source: Manage your $HOME with git by Robert Escriva

Posted in Bash, Configuration Management, Git, Projects, Systems Administration

Silas Sewell

Profile Management with Git and GitHub

Features

Setup Repository

Setup Configuration Management on a Different System

Basic Usage

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