How do you guys quickly sync your settings (especially bash aliases and ssh keys) across your machines?

Ideally i want a simple script to run on every new server I work with. Any suggestions?

  • Atemu
    18•1 year ago

    Dotfiles go in git, SSH keys are state.

    I’m looking to migrate to home-manager though because I use Nix on all my devices anyways.

    • @[email protected]
      1•1 year ago

      I also have multiple versions of by bash_profile with syntax specific to the OS. It checks if we’re on MacOS or Linux with a kernel check and then reads the appropriate ancillary bash_profile for that platform. Anything that can live in the main bash_profile with the same command on both platforms lives there and anything that needs to be system-specific is in the other one.

      I have all my important functions as individual files that get loaded with the following:

      function loadfuncs() {
	local funcdir="$HOME/.dotfiles/functions/"
	[ -e "${funcdir}".DS_Store ] && rm "$HOME/.dotfiles/functions/.DS_Store"
	local n=0

	for i in "${funcdir}"*; do
		source "$(realpath $i)"
		n=$(( n + 1 ))
	done
}
loadfuncs
      • Atemu
        1•1 year ago

        Interesting way to go about it. Though when I’m at the point where I need differences between linux and darwin, I’m probably going to do that at the home-manager level.

        • @[email protected]
          1•1 year ago

          Just for fun, here’s how I’m checking that (this was written in 2016 and may require adjusting as I haven’t been keeping up on Linux for a while):

          function oscheck() {
	if [[ "$(uname -s)" == 'Darwin' ]]; then

		# echo Darwin
		osType=Darwin
		return 0

	elif
		[[ "$(uname -s)" == 'Linux' ]]; then

		# echo Linux
		osType=Linux

		grep CentOS /etc/os-release > /dev/null
		if [[ "$?" == 0 ]]; then
		    # echo "CentOS"
		    export theDistro=CentOS
		    return 0
		else
			:
		fi

		grep Ubuntu /etc/os-release > /dev/null
		if [[ "$?" == 0 ]]; then
		    export theDistro=Ubuntu
		    return 0
		else
			:
			# echo "Not Ubuntu"
		fi

		printf "  %s\n" "Error: osType tested true for Linux, but did not find CentOS or Ubuntu." ""
		return 1

	else
		osType=Unknown
		return 1
	fi
}
oscheck