Ubuntu Manpage: yadm - Yet Another Dotfiles Manager

NAME

       yadm - Yet Another Dotfiles Manager

SYNOPSIS

       yadm command [options]

       yadm git-command-or-alias [options]

       yadm init [-f] [-w directory]

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

       yadm config name [value]

       yadm config [-e]

       yadm list [-a]

       yadm encrypt

       yadm decrypt [-l]

       yadm alt

       yadm perms

DESCRIPTION

       yadm  is  a  tool  for  managing  a  collection  of  files  across multiple computers, 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 managed repository. The working directory for git commands will be the
configured work-tree (usually $HOME).

Dotfiles are managed by using standard git commands; add, commit, 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 unnecessary 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 contents 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 CONFIGURATION 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). Using the -l option will list the files stored without
extracting them.

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 command is provided as a way to change configurations of the repository
managed by yadm. One useful case might be to configure the repository so untracked files are
shown in status commands. yadm initially configures its repository so that untracked files are
not shown. If you wish use the default git behavior (to show untracked files and directories),
you can remove this configuration.

yadm gitconfig --unset status.showUntrackedFiles

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 automatically 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 contents 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 ALTERNATES.  If disabled, you may still run
              yadm alt manually to create the alternate links.  This feature is enabled by default.

       yadm.auto-perms
              Disable the automatic permission changes described in the section 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.

       yadm.gpg-perms
              Disable the permission changes to $HOME/.gnupg/*.  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, host, or user.  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 in:

              ## or ##OS or ##OS.HOSTNAME or ##OS.HOSTNAME.USER

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

         - $HOME/path/example.txt##
         - $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, the link use the default "##" version:

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

       If no "##" version exists and no files match the current OS/HOSTNAME/USER, then no link will be created.

       OS  is  determined  by  running  uname -s, HOSTNAME by running hostname -s, and USER by running id -u -n.
       yadm will automatically create these links by default. This  can  be  disabled  using  the  yadm.auto-alt
       configuration.  Even if disabled, links can be manually created by running yadm alt.

ENCRYPTION

       It  can  be  useful to manage confidential files, like SSH or GPG keys, across multiple systems. However,
       doing so would put plain text data into a Git repository, which often resides on a public  system.   yadm
       implements  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
                  .gnupg/*.gpg

       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
       patterns 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.

       NOTE: It is recommended that you use a private repository when keeping confidential  files,  even  though
       they are encrypted.

PERMISSIONS

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

       To prevent this, yadm will automatically update the permissions of confidential 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/*

       - The GPG directory and files, .gnupg/*

       yadm  will  automatically  update  permissions by default. This can be disabled using the yadm.auto-perms
       configuration.  Even if disabled, permissions can be manually updated by  running  yadm perms.   The  SSH
       directory 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>