Re: Having a Dot File Repo?

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This is my take on ~ew0k notes about dot files management[1].

[1] ~ew0k - Having a Dot File Repo?

I used to do it too...

For years, I've been using misc version control software to backup, transfer and manage my dot files: RCS, SVN, git, even mercurial. The main issue with thos was the "backup" part: exporting those offsite added some security issues which were often tackled by copying local-only repos to encrypted archives or adding strong auth to a backup server, sometimes even setting up a VPN (for SVN). No solution was perfect, but it did the trick.

It all worked fine for shell and vim configuration, but most config files need some tweaking for each computer. I used pretty complexe setups with a specific "dotfile repo" directory in my home, extensive use of include files or forced configuration path for multiple tools. Syncing my main workstations and laptops was pretty easy but setting up a new copy got more and more complex, I finally gave up. Not to mention the fact that I sometimes forgot to sync tracked files, or even config file getting "unplugged" by accident.

Borgbackup and my current setup

I discovered borgbackup[2] a few years ago while looking for a "full" backup solution. It is some kind of rsync clone with full encryption, dedup, history, fuse mount of backups ... everything I needed at the time. I mostly used it as "full" home backup solution, having a cron job dump my whole root fs to a repo on a secondary HDD every hour or so. No more lost files or "oops" moments deleting the wrong directory or wrecking the whole system with a buggy software update!

Next step was adding another backup to a remote server (with a ~daily backup). Setting up a new computer is now a matter of mounting a backup image from a similar system, copying its config files locally, tweaking them and setting up borg backup. It means I still have to duplicate changes I make to common config files everywhere, but to be honest it's often a line or two to be modified in files that already have specific options, so no big deal.

So yeah, it's not a fire&forget solution, but it is simple enough not to get in the way. Setting up a new device is still a manual process, but backup (and history!) is always available, so I can live with it.

[2] borgbackup homepage

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