NAME

       vcsh - Version Control System for $HOME - multiple Git repositories in $HOME

SYNOPSIS

       vcsh [options] command

       vcsh clone [-b branch] url [repo]

       vcsh delete repo

       vcsh enter repo

       vcsh foreach [-g] git command

       vcsh help

       vcsh init repo

       vcsh list

       vcsh list-tracked [repo]

       vcsh list-untracked [-a] [-r] [repo]

       vcsh pull

       vcsh push

       vcsh rename repo newname

       vcsh run repo shell command

       vcsh status [repo]

       vcsh upgrade repo

       vcsh version

       vcsh which substring

       vcsh write-gitignore repo

       vcsh repo git command

       vcsh repo

DESCRIPTION

       vcsh  allows  you to have several git(1) repositories, all maintaining their working trees
       in $HOME without clobbering each other. That, in turn, means you can have  one  repository
       per config set (zsh, vim, ssh, etc), picking and choosing which configs you want to use on
       which machine.

       vcsh is using a technique called  fake  bare  Git  repositories,  keeping  $GIT_DIR  in  a
       different directory from $GIT_WORK_TREE which is pointed to $HOME.

       The use of symlinks is not needed in this setup, making for a cleaner setup.

       vcsh  was designed with mr(1) in mind so you might want to install it alongside vcsh. That
       being said, you can easily use vcsh without mr if you prefer.

       A    sample    configuration    for    vcsh     and     mr     can     be     found     at
       https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh_mr_template      and      used      with     vcsh     clone
       https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh_mr_template mr.

       Please note that you can always use a path instead of a name for repo. This is  needed  to
       support mr and other scripts properly and of no concern to an interactive user.

OPTIONS

       -c     Source file prior to other configuration files

       -d     Enable debug mode

       -v     Enable verbose mode

COMMANDS

       clone  Clone an existing repository.

              If  you  need  to  clone a bundle of repositories, look into the post-clone-retired
              hook.

              You can also use a single git repository with several branches. Use the  -b  option
              to specify a branch at clone time, the default is master.

       commit Commit in all repositories

       delete Delete an existing repository.

       enter  Enter repository; spawn new $SHELL.

       foreach
              Execute git command for every vcsh repository.

              -g: Execute in general context.

       help   Display help.

       init   Initialize an empty repository.

       list   List all local vcsh repositories.

       list-tracked
              List all files tracked by vcsh.

              If  you  want  to  list  files  tracked by a specific repository, simply append the
              repository´s name last.

       list-tracked-by
              List files tracked by a repository.

              This is a legacy command; you should use list-tracked <repo> instead.

       list-untracked
              List all files NOT tracked by vcsh.

              -a: Show all files. By default, the git ls-files --exclude-standard is called.

              -r: Recursive mode. By default, the file list is shallow  and  stops  at  directory
              levels where possible.

              $repo: List files not tracked by this specific repository.

       pull   Pull from all vcsh remotes.

       push   Push to all vcsh remotes.

       rename Rename a repository.

       run    Run  command  with  $GIT_DIR  and $GIT_WORK_TREE set. Allows you to run any and all
              commands without any restrictions. Use with care.

              Please note that there is a somewhat magic feature for  run.  Instead  of  repo  it
              accepts  path,  as  well.  Anything  that has a slash in it will be assumed to be a
              path. vcsh run will then operate on this directory  instead  of  the  one  normally
              generated  from  the  repository´s  name.  This  is  needed to support mr and other
              scripts properly and of no concern to an interactive user.

       status Show statuses of all/one vcsh repositories.

       upgrade
              Upgrade repository to currently recommended settings.

       version
              Print version information.

       which substring
              Find substring in name of any tracked file.

       write-gitignore
              Write .gitignore.d/repo via git ls-files.

       repo gitcommand
              Shortcut to run vcsh on a repo. Will prepend git to command.

       repo   Shortcut to run vcsh enter <repo>.

ENVIRONMENT

       As noted earlier, vcsh will set $GIT_DIR and $GIT_WORK_TREE to the appropriate values  for
       fake bare Git repositories.

CONFIG

       There  are  several  ways  to  turn  the  various  knobs  on  vcsh.  In order of ascending
       precedence, they are:

       •   VARIABLE=foo vcsh

       •   </etc/vcsh/config>

       •   <$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/config>

       •   vcsh -c <file>

       Please note that those files are sourced. Any and all commands will  be  executed  in  the
       context of your shell.

       Interesting knobs you can turn:

       $VCSH_GITATTRIBUTES
              Can be none, or any other value.

              none will not maintain Git attributes in a special location.

              If set to any other value, repo-specific gitattributes files will be maintained.

              Defaults to none.

       $VCSH_GITIGNORE
              Can be exact, none, or recursive.

              exact  will  seed  the  repo-specific ignore file with all file and directory names
              which git ls-files returns.

              none will not write any ignore file.

              recursive will descend through all  directories  recursively  additionally  to  the
              above.

              Defaults to exact.

       $VCSH_VCSH_WORKTREE
              Can be absolute, or relative.

              absolute will set an absolute path; defaulting to $HOME.

              relative will set a path relative to $GIT_DIR.

              Defaults to absolute.

       Less interesting knobs you could turn:

       $VCSH_DEBUG
              Enter debug mode.

       $XDG_CONFIG_HOME
              As    specified    in    the    ´XDG    Base    Directory    Specification´,    see
              http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html

              Defaults to <$HOME/.config>.

       $VCSH_REPO_D
              The directory where repositories are read from and stored.

              Defaults to <$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/repo.d>.

       $VCSH_HOOK_D
              The directory where hooks are read from.

              Defaults to <$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/hooks-enabled>.

       $VCSH_BASE
              The directory where repositories are checked out to.

              Defaults to $HOME.

HOOK SYSTEM

       vcsh provides a hook system. Hook scripts must be  executable  and  should  be  placed  in
       <$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/hooks-available>.   From   there,  they  can  be  soft-linked  into
       <$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/hooks-enabled>; vcsh will only  execute  hooks  that  are  in  this
       directory.

       Hooks  follow  a simple format. pre-run will be run before anything is run. If you want to
       have more than one script for a certain hook, just append any  kind  of  string  to  order
       them.  A  system  of  pre-run,  <pre-run.10>, <pre-run.20> etc is suggested; other options
       would be pre-run-10 or <pre-run.sh>. A dot after the hook name is optional.

       If you  want  to  create  hooks  for  a  specific  vcsh  repository,  simply  prepend  the
       repository´s  name,  followed  by  a dot, i.e. <zsh.pre-run>. Otherwise, the same rules as
       above apply. The dot between the repository´s name and the hook is mandatory, though.

       Available hooks are pre-clone, post-clone, post-clone-retired, pre-command,  post-command,
       pre-enter,  post-enter,  pre-init,  post-init,  pre-pull,  post-pull, pre-push, post-push,
       pre-run, post-run, pre-upgrade, and post-upgrade. If you need more,  vcsh  is  trivial  to
       patch, but please let upstream know so we can ship them by default.

OVERLAY SYSTEM

       vcsh  also  provides  an  overlay  system. Similar to hooks, the recommended locations are
       <$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/overlays-available> and <$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/overlays-enabled>.

       Overlays follow the same rules as hooks  and  you  are  free  to  overwrite  any  and  all
       functions.  Same  as  hooks,  you  can use global or repository-specific overlays by using
       either <$VCSH_OVERLAY_D/$VCSH_COMMAND> or <$VCSH_OVERLAY_D/$VCSH_REPO_NAME.$VCSH_COMMAND>.

       Please   note   that   nothing   stops   you   from,   e.g.   overwriting   status()    in
       <$VCSH_OVERLAY_D/commit>.  As the overlays will be sourced and you are replacing arbitrary
       functions, any and all features may stop working, or you may even lose data.

       You have been warned.

DETAILED HOWTO AND FURTHER READING

       Manpages are often short and sometimes useless to glean best  practices  from.  While  the
       author tried to avoid this in this case, manpages can not cover detailed howtos.

       This software also comes with a file called <README.md>. It contains various approaches to
       setting up and using vcsh. You can view the file it  as  plain  text  or  render  it  into
       various other formats via Markdown.

       On Debian-based systems, this file can be found in </usr/share/doc/vcsh>.

SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS

       vcsh  allows you to execute arbitrary commands via vcsh run. For example, adding a sudo(8)
       rule for vcsh would be pretty stupid.

       Additionally, vcsh will source, i.e. execute, all files listed in CONFIG. You can put  any
       and all commands into these config files and they will be executed.

BUGS

       None are known at this time, but reports and/or patches are more than welcome.

INTEROPERABILITY

       If  you  rely  on  git  submodule  use  git 1.7.12 or later. Earlier versions do not clean
       internal variables properly before descending into submodules, resulting  in  unhappy  end
       users.

HISTORY

       Like  most  people,  the  author initially made do with a single repository for all config
       files, all of which were soft-linked into $HOME.

       Martin F. Krafft aka madduck came up with the concept of fake bare Git repositories.

       vcsh was initally written by madduck. This version is  a  re-implementation  from  scratch
       with a lot more features. madduck graciously agreed to let the author take over the name.

AUTHOR

       This manpage and vcsh itself were written by Richard "RichiH" Hartmann.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright 2011-2015 Richard Hartmann richih@debian.org

       Licensed under the GNU GPL version 2 or higher.

       https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh

SEE ALSO

       git(1), mr(1)

                                          December 2015                                   VCSH(1)