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+---
+title: "Dotfiles under revision control"
+description: "How I manage my configuration files with Git."
+published: 2019-09-02
+---
+
+<!-- TODO: Test commands -->
+
+I regularly spend some time to fit my preferred tools to my personal need and taste.
+Luckily, most command-line tools and a growing number of graphical tools, accept configuration files -- commonly called _dotfiles_ because of the typical dot at the beginnig of the file name, e.g., `.tmux.conf`.
+This post describes my not-so-special way to put these dotfiles under revision control using Git and Bash.
+In fact, you'll find a myriad of public dotfiles repositories on the web, for example on [GitHub](https://github.com/search?q=dotfiles).
+
+Add the following snippet to your `~/.bashrc`.
+The first line defines a `dotfiles` alias for `git` to distinguish your dotfiles repository from any other Git repository in and below your home directory.
+The remaining lines reuse -- you might say hack -- Git's Bash completion for the alias.
+
+```sh
+alias dotfiles="git --git-dir=\${HOME}/.dotfiles/ --work-tree=\${HOME}"
+if [ -f /usr/share/git/completion/git-completion.bash ]; then
+  source /usr/share/git/completion/git-completion.bash
+  __git_complete dotfiles __git_main
+fi
+```
+
+Initialize a bare Git repository for your dotfiles, and tell Git to ignore untracked files.
+
+```sh
+mkdir ~/.dotfiles
+git -C ~/.dotfiles init --bare
+dotfiles config status.showUntrackedFiles no
+```
+
+Now you can `add`, `commit`, and `push` your dotfiles as usual.
+
+You can even add other repositories as submodules.
+The following snippet, for example, adds Vim and Tmux plug-ins for the acclaimed [Solarized](https://ethanschoonover.com/solarized/) color scheme.
+
+```sh
+mkdir -p ~/.tmux/plugins
+cd ~/.tmux/plugins
+dotfiles submodule add https://github.com/seebi/tmux-colors-solarized.git
+
+mkdir -p ~/.vim/pack/stefan/{start,opt}
+cd ~/.vim/pack/stefan/start
+dotfiles submodule add https://github.com/altercation/vim-colors-solarized.git
+
+dotfiles add ~/gitmodules
+```
+
+Update the submodules as always.
+
+```sh
+dotfiles submodule update --remote --merge
+```
+
+Generate help tags.
+
+```sh
+for d in ~/.vim/pack/stefan/*/*/doc; do
+  vim -u NONE -c "helptags $d" -c q
+done
+```
+
+Finally, clone your dotfiles to another machine.
+Be careful to clone into a temporary directory, though.
+Otherwise you might screw up your home directory.
+
+```sh
+git clone \
+  --recurse-submodules \
+  --separate-git-dir=$HOME/.dotfiles \
+  example.com:~/git/dotfiles ~/dotfiles-tmp
+rm ~/dotfiles-tmp/.git
+cp -ai ~/dotfiles-tmp/.* ~
+rm -r ~/dotfiles-tmp
+dotfiles config status.showUntrackedFiles no
+```
+
+That's it. Happy tracking!
+
+P.S. Did you know that Unix' hidden files were a mistake?
+See [this archived post](https://web.archive.org/web/20190318012059/https://plus.google.com/101960720994009339267/posts/R58WgWwN9jp) by Rob Pike.