dotfiles

About

Config files for various tools I use, or have used in the past, such as fish, git, jed, and Visual Studio Code.

It's very unlikely that anyone will want to use this directly; the more interesting directories are:

• fish - configuration and startup files for fish shell.
• bin - bash scripts for various things.
• fish functions - more scripts, generally those that are awkward/impossible to write in bash.
• etc/git/templates - git hooks
• docker - Dockerfile

The idempotent install script handles a few different operating systems and package managers (past and present) has a some interesting constructions that may be useful.

Prerequisites

Getting locale-related errors when going through these steps?

1. Generate missing locales: locale-gen en_GB.UTF-8

git

• Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install git-core
• OS X: xcode-select --install (or install Xcode)

No sudo? (If, for example, you're on a Gandi VPS.)

1. Login as root: ssh root@server
2. Install sudo: apt-get install sudo
3. Edit /etc/sudoers: visudo
4. Add the line: mjs ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL

fish

Ubuntu

sudo apt-get install fish

OS X

Via brew:

brew install fish
chsh -s /bin/bash # .bash_profile runs fish if available (zsh is default)

Don't already have brew?

If you want to install into /opt/homebrew ...

See http://brew.sh.

If you want to install somewhere else ...

See alternative installs. (Installing into ~/local/homebrew, and symlinking brew into ~/local/homebrew/bin might be a good option.)

Note that the binaries are symlinked into whatever directory brew is installed into. (So if brew is symlinked into /usr/local/bin, then all executables installed by brew will be symlinked into there as well.) This can be useful if you want to install brew in your home directory, but symlink binaries into /usr/local/bin.

Other Platforms

See http://fishshell.com/.

Installation

$ cd $HOME
$ git clone https://github.com/ithinkihaveacat/dotfiles.git .dotfiles
$ cd $HOME/.dotfiles
# Pull from ro repo, push to rw
$ git remote set-url origin --push git@github.com:ithinkihaveacat/dotfiles.git
$ ./update  # if macOS and brew in PATH
$ PATH=~/local/homebrew/bin:/opt/homebrew/bin:$PATH ./update  # if not
# On OS X, logout and login again

Note that update may be destructive—if you have "unmanaged" files in locations such as ~/Library/KeyBindings or ~/Library/Fonts, they will be wiped out!

(Though it is safe to run update multiple times.)

Environment Management

This repository uses direnv to automatically switch development environments when entering directories. This is configured via ~/.direnvrc (linked from home/.direnvrc) and hooks in fish/config.fish.

To configure a project, create an .envrc file in the project root.

Node.js

Node.js versions are managed by the custom node-install script (found in bin/) and direnv.

1. Install a Node.js version:

   node-install 22  # Installs the latest 22.x release

   This installs the version into $HOME/.local/share/node/versions.

2. Use it in a project:

   Add the following to your .envrc:

   use node 22
   layout node

   use node 22 selects the version, and layout node adds node_modules/.bin to the PATH.

Python (via uv)

Python environments are managed using uv.

1. Use it in a project:

   Add the following to your .envrc:

   layout uv

   This will automatically create a virtual environment (.venv) if one doesn't exist (using uv venv) and activate it.

Environment Variables

You can also use .envrc to set environment variables on a per-project basis. This is useful for API keys, configuration flags, or other project-specific settings.

Example:

export GEMINI_API_KEY="your-api-key"
export PORT=8080

When you enter the directory, these variables will be exported. When you leave, they will be unset.

Manual Changes

All Platforms

jed

If you have problems installing jed from packages, it can be installed manually via something like:

# slang
wget http://www.jedsoft.org/snapshots/slang-pre2.3.1-40.tar.gz
# extract
./configure --prefix=$HOME/local \
  --libdir=$HOME/local/homebrew/lib \
  --includedir=$HOME/local/homebrew/include \
  --without-x --without-png
make
make install

# jed
wget http://www.jedsoft.org/snapshots/jed-pre0.99.20-111.tar.gz
# extract
./configure --prefix=$HOME/local \
  --libdir=$HOME/local/homebrew/lib \
  --includedir=$HOME/local/homebrew/include \
  --without-x
make
make install

macOS

(See this script for some tips on how to change some of these settings automatically.)

Configure Terminal

Import the [etc/Solarized Dark.terminal](etc/Solarized Dark.terminal) profile, and set it to the "default". (See this script for some information on how to do this automatically.)

Configure keyboard

• Open System Preferences > Keyboard
  • Open Shortcuts > Services > File and Folders, enable "New Terminal at Folder".
  • Open Text, disable "Correct spelling automatically".

Configure Text Replacements

If signed into the same iCloud account, these should be shared automatically.

Otherwise, see Back up and share text replacements on Mac. Text replacements themselves are stored in [etc/Text Replacements.plist](etc/Text Replacements.plist)

Add Lock Screen option to Menu Bar

Configure via "Keychain Access" preferences.

Add Volume Controls to Menu Bar

Control Center | Sound | Always Show in Menu Bar.

Disable local Time Machine backups

sudo tmutil disablelocal

Install "Network Link Conditioner"

https://developer.apple.com/download/more/?q=Additional%20Tools

This provides a way to simulate degraded network conditions (more info).

Install GitHub theme for iA Writer

See https://ia.net/writer/templates/.

Disable Hot Corners

Via System Preferences.

Install optional fonts

See https://typography.guru/journal/awesome-catalina-fonts/.

Ubuntu (Additional)

Emacs Keybindings

Get emacs keybindings across all gtk apps (source):

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-key-theme "Emacs"

Compose Key

Set the compose key to Caps Lock so that you can e.g. hold down Caps Lock and type --- to get an mdash.

Fonts

Open "System Settings", change the fonts as below:

Terminal

Change Colour Scheme

Run the following gconftool commands to set Solarized colours correctly:

http://stackoverflow.com/a/7734960

Change Font

Use "Profile Preferences" to change the default font.

Make Alt Available

Open "Keyboard Shortcuts" and unselect "Enable menu access keys". (Otherwise Alt is used for accessing the menu.)

Change Size

Edit "Default" profile, change custom default terminal size to 100 columns, 60 rows.

Raspberry Pi OS

1. Use the Raspberry Pi Imager https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/ to install the OS on an SD card or external SSD.

   1. For a "headless" version (i.e. without desktop apps), go to "Raspberry Pi OS (other)" and select "Raspberry Pi OS Lite".
   2. In the OS customization settings, enable SSH access in the "Remote access" section.
   3. (Optional) Configure Wi-Fi in the "Wi-Fi" section.

2. SSH into the machine: ssh mjs@lil.local (where mjs is the username and lil is the hostname provided in the "User" section of the imager).

   1. (Optional) If using Ghostty, copy the terminfo (run from your local machine): infocmp -x xterm-ghostty | ssh mjs@lil.local -- tic -x -

3. Update the OS: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y

   1. If /var/run/reboot-required exists (created if a package update requires a reboot), reboot: sudo reboot.

4. Install fish from the OpenSUSE Build Service (for the latest version):

   curl -fsSL https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/shells:fish:release:4/Debian_Unstable/Release.key | \
     gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/fish-shell.gpg > /dev/null
   echo 'deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/fish-shell.gpg] https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/shells:/fish:/release:/4/Debian_Unstable/ /' | \
     sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/fish-shell.list
   sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y fish

   Alternatively, install the (older) version from the Debian repos: sudo apt-get install fish.

5. Install git: sudo apt-get install git.

6. Install tailscale: curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh https://tailscale.com/download/linux

   1. Log in to Tailscale: sudo tailscale up

7. (Optional) Install nodejs and npm: sudo apt-get install nodejs npm. Note that these may be older versions; for newer versions, see the Node.js section.

8. (Optional) Disable WiFi and Bluetooth: add dtoverlay=disable-wifi and dtoverlay=disable-bt on separate lines under the [all] section in /boot/firmware/config.txt. (See the overlays README for more info.)

9. (Optional) Change the hostname: edit /etc/hostname and /etc/hosts, replacing the old hostname with the new one in both files.

A reboot is recommended after performing any of the optional configuration steps above (such as disabling WiFi/Bluetooth or changing the hostname) to ensure that the changes are consistently applied across the system: sudo reboot.

Once complete, the Raspberry Pi is ready for user configuration. Proceed to the Installation section to clone these dotfiles and set up your environment.

Recommendation: use VS Code's Remote - SSH extension to edit files.

Manually Installing Binaries?

Put them in ~/local/bin, and man pages (if you have them) in ~/local/share/man/man?. (man --path lists the man page search path.)

Author

mjs@beebo.org