TheLocehiliosan_yadm/yadm.md

NAME

   yadm - Yet Another Dotfiles Manager

SYNOPSIS

   yadm command [options]

   yadm git-command-or-alias [options]

   yadm init [-f]

   yadm clone url [-f] [-w directory]

   yadm config name [value]

   yadm config [-e]

   yadm list [-a]

   yadm encrypt

   yadm decrypt

   yadm alt

   yadm perms

DESCRIPTION

   yadm  is a tool for managing a collection of files across multiple com-
   puters, using a shared Git repository.  In addition,  yadm  provides  a
   feature  to  select  alternate versions of files based on the operation
   system or host name.  Lastly, yadm supplies the  ability  to  manage  a
   subset of secure files, which are encrypted before they are included in
   the repository.

COMMANDS

   git-command or git-alias
          Any command not internally handled by yadm is passed through  to
          git(1).   Git commands or aliases are invoked with the yadm man-
          aged repository.  The working directory for git commands will be
          the configured work-tree (usually $HOME).

          Dotfiles  are  managed by using standard git commands; add, com-
          mit, push, pull, etc.

          The config command is not passed directly through.  Instead  use
          the gitconfig command (see below).

   alt    Create  symbolic links for any managed files matching the naming
          rules describe in the ALTERNATES section.  It is usually  unnec-
          essary  to  run  this  command,  as yadm automatically processes
          alternates by default.  This automatic behavior can be  disabled
          by setting the configuration yadm.auto-alt to "false".

   clone url
          Clone a remote repository for tracking dotfiles.  After the con-
          tents of the remote repository have been fetched, a  "merge"  of
          origin/master  is  attempted.   If  there  are conflicting files
          already present in the  work-tree,  this  merge  will  fail  and
          instead  a  "reset"  of origin/master will be done.  It is up to
          the user to resolve these conflicts, but if the  desired  action
          is to have the contents in the repository overwrite the existing
          files, then a "hard reset" should accomplish that:

                 yadm reset --hard origin/master

          The repository is stored in $HOME/.yadm/repo.git.   By  default,
          $HOME  will be used as the work-tree, but this can be overridden
          with the -w option.  yadm can be forced to overwrite an existing
          repository by providing the -f option.

   config This  command  manages  configurations  for  yadm.  This command
          works exactly they way git-config(1) does.  See  the  CONFIGURA-
          TION section for more details.

   decrypt
          Decrypt   all  files  stored  in  $HOME/.yadm/files.gpg.   Files
          decrypted will be relative to the configured work-tree  (usually
          $HOME).

   encrypt
          Encrypt    all    files   matching   the   patterns   found   in
          $HOME/.yadm/encrypt.   See  the  ENCRYPTION  section  for   more
          details.

   gitconfig
          Pass  options to the git config command. Since yadm already uses
          the config command to manage its own configurations,  this  com-
          mand is provided as a way to change configurations of the repos-
          itory managed by yadm.  One particularly useful case may  be  to
          configure the repository so untracked files are hidden from sta-
          tus commands:

                 yadm gitconfig status.showUntrackedFiles no

   help   Print a summary of yadm commands.

   init   Initialize a new, empty repository for tracking  dotfiles.   The
          repository is stored in $HOME/.yadm/repo.git.  By default, $HOME
          will be used as the work-tree, but this can be  overridden  with
          the  -w  option.   yadm  can  be forced to overwrite an existing
          repository by providing the -f option.

   list   Print a list of files managed by yadm.  The -a option will cause
          all  managed  files to be listed.  Otherwise, the list will only
          include files from the current directory or below.

   perms  Update permissions as described in the PERMISSIONS section.   It
          is  usually  unnecessary  to run this command, as yadm automati-
          cally processes permissions by default.  This automatic behavior
          can  be disabled by setting the configuration yadm.auto-perms to
          "false".

   version
          Print the version of yadm.

CONFIGURATION

   yadm uses a configuration file  named  $HOME/.yadm/config.   This  file
   uses  the same format as git-config(1).  Also, you can control the con-
   tents of the configuration file via  the  yadm  config  command  (which
   works exactly like git-config).  For example, to disable alternates you
   can run the command:

          yadm config yadm.auto-alt false

   The following is the full list of supported configurations:

   yadm.auto-alt
          Disable the automatic linking described in  the  section  ALTER-
          NATES.  If disabled, you may still run yadm alt manually to cre-
          ate the alternate links.  This feature is enabled by default.

   yadm.auto-perms
          Disable the automatic permission changes described in  the  sec-
          tion  PERMISSIONS.   If  disabled,  you may still run yadm perms
          manually to update permissions.   This  feature  is  enabled  by
          default.

   yadm.ssh-perms
          Disable the permission changes to $HOME/.ssh/*.  This feature is
          enabled by default.

ALTERNATES

   When managing a set of files across different systems, it can be useful
   to have an automated way of choosing an alternate version of a file for
   a different operation system or simply  for  a  different  host.   yadm
   implements a feature which will automatically create a symbolic link to
   the appropriate version of a file, as long as  you  follow  a  specific
   naming convention.  yadm can detect files with names ending with:

          ##SYSTEM or ##SYSTEM.HOSTNAME

   If  there  are  any files managed by yadm's repository which match this
   naming convention, symbolic links will be created for the  most  appro-
   priate  version.   This may best be demonstrated by example. Assume the
   following files are managed by yadm's repository:

     - $HOME/path/example.txt##Darwin
     - $HOME/path/example.txt##Darwin.host1
     - $HOME/path/example.txt##Darwin.host2
     - $HOME/path/example.txt##Linux
     - $HOME/path/example.txt##Linux.host1
     - $HOME/path/example.txt##Linux.host2

   If running on a Macbook named "host2", yadm will create a symbolic link
   which looks like this:

   $HOME/path/example.txt -> $HOME/path/example.txt##Darwin.host2

   However, on another Mackbook named "host3", yadm will create a symbolic
   link which looks like this:

   $HOME/path/example.txt -> $HOME/path/example.txt##Darwin

   Since the hostname doesn't match any of the  managed  files,  the  more
   generic version is chosen.

   If running on a Linux server named "host4" the link will be:

   $HOME/path/example.txt -> $HOME/path/example.txt##Linux

   If  running  on a Solaris server, no link will be created because there
   are no files managed for that SYSTEM.

   SYSTEM is determined by running  uname -s  HOSTNAME  by  running  host-
   name -s.   yadm  will automatically create these links by default. This
   can be disabled using the yadm.auto-alt configuration.   Even  if  dis-
   abled, links can be manually created by running yadm alt.

ENCRYPTION

   It  can  be  useful to manage confidential files, like SSH keys, across
   multiple systems. However, doing so would put plain text  data  into  a
   Git  repository,  which  often resides on a public system.  yadm imple-
   ments a feature which can make it easy to encrypt and decrypt a set  of
   files so the encrypted version can be maintained in the Git repository.
   This feature will only work if the gpg(1) command is available.

   To use this feature, a list of patterns must be created  and  saved  as
   $HOME/.yadm/encrypt.   This  list of patterns should be relative to the
   configured work-tree (usually $HOME).  For example:

           .ssh/*.key

   The yadm encrypt command will find all files matching the patterns, and
   prompt  for  a  password.  Once  a password has confirmed, the matching
   files will be encrypted and saved as $HOME/.yadm/files.gpg.   The  pat-
   terns  and files.gpg should be added to the yadm repository so they are
   available across multiple systems.

   To decrypt these files later, or on another system run yadm decrypt and
   provide  the  correct password.  After files are decrypted, permissions
   are automatically updated as described in the PERMISSIONS section.

PERMISSIONS

   When files are checked out of a Git repository, their  initial  permis-
   sions are dependent upon the user's umask. This can result in confiden-
   tial files with lax permissions.

   To prevent this, yadm will automatically update the permissions of con-
   fidential  files.  The "group" and "others" permissions will be removed
   from the following files:

   - $HOME/.yadm/files.gpg

   - All files matching patterns in $HOME/.yadm/encrypt

   - The SSH directory and files, .ssh/*

   yadm will automatically update permissions by default. This can be dis-
   abled  using the yadm.auto-perms configuration.  Even if disabled, per-
   missions can be manually updated by running yadm perms.  The SSH direc-
   tory processing can be disabled using the yadm.ssh-perms configuration.

FILES

   $HOME/.yadm/config
          Configuration file for yadm.

   $HOME/.yadm/repo.git
          Git repository used by yadm.

   $HOME/.yadm/encrypt
          List of globs used for encrypt/decrypt

   $HOME/.yadm/files.gpg
          All files encrypted with yadm encrypt are stored in this file.

EXAMPLES

   yadm init
          Create an empty repo for managing files

   yadm add .bash_profile ; yadm commit
          Add .bash_profile to the Git index and create a new commit

   yadm remote add origin <url>
          Add a remote origin to an existing repository

   yadm push -u origin master
          Initial push of master to origin

   echo .ssh/*.key >> $HOME/.yadm/encrypt
          Add a new pattern to the list of encrypted files

   yadm encrypt ; yadm add ~/.yadm/files.gpg ; yadm commit
          Commit a new set of encrypted files

REPORTING BUGS

   Report issues or create pull requests at GitHub:

   https://github.com/TheLocehiliosan/yadm

AUTHOR

   Tim Byrne <sultan@locehilios.com>

SEE ALSO

   git(1), gpg(1)

   Other management tools which inspired the creation of yadm:

   homeshick <https://github.com/andsens/homeshick>

   vcsh <https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh>