Re: Keeping dot files in sync

[Robert McLay <mclay@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 2008-02-18 at 00:05 +0000, Thorsten Kampe wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I have a problem keeping my configuration files (mainly .zshrc and 
> .bashrc) in sync on multiple computers.
> 
> I've got a central computer where I mainly work and do my .zshrc 
> changes. I need a program to propagate these changes to the other 
> computers (mainly virtual machines) to have the same zsh configuration 
> there.
> 
> Unfortunately my main workstation and the other PCs are not directly 
> connected (otherwise I'd simply rsync the changes).
> 
> I have a server "on the Internet" that is accessible via http/WebDAV 
> and ftp. So I could push the changed files to this server from my main 
> system and pull the changed files from there on the other machines.
> 
> Does anyone know of an application (Revision control or something 
> similar) that does this kind of task or assists in it?

I also keep my dot files in sync.   Since my computers are accessible on
the Net.  I use subversion.  I place my dot files in a sub-directory
and symbolically link to my home directory.

% ls -aF ~/.dotfiles

.bashrc    .zshrc .zshenv  .svn/

% ls -l ~/.bashrc

lrwxrwxrwx   ...     ~/.bashrc  -> .dotfiles/.bashrc

The .dotfiles directory is managed by subversion.  Any changes made on
any computer can checked-in.   To update any computer just requires a
"svn update" in the ~/.dotfiles directory.   If you have control of your
server "on the Internet" then you can run subversion via http or https.

You may also consider the distributive version control system that the
linux kernel uses namely "git".   You can have multiple repositories and
pass around "patch" or "diff"s around.  The diff's can be emailed.