I'm trying to move .zshrc to a folder where I keep this kind of files synced with Github.
But now whenever I start a zsh session it doesn't use that config file.
Assuming I changed the file to ~/.dotfiles how can I add ~/.dotfiles/.zshrc to the PATH(?!) to make zsh start with that config?
Doing source ~./dotfiles/.zshrc only works for that session. Doesn't work anymore if I close the terminal.
You can symlink:
ln -s /path/to/original /path/to/symlink
For the zshrc you can do something like:
ln -s ~/.dotiles/.zshrc ~/.zshrc
One alternative to a symlink is to put this in ~/.zshenv:
ZDOTDIR=~/.dotfiles
If you want .zshenv in ~/.dotfiles as well, you can look into setting ZDOTDIR in one of the global configuration files (/etc/zshenv is a good choice).
Alternatively, you can do what I do and use GNU Stow. I've got my dotfiles in a repository, one subdirectory per category, like so:
dotfilerepo/zsh/.zshrc
dotfilerepo/zsh/.zlogin
dotfilerepo/git/.gitconfig
dotfilerepo/vim/.vimrc
then I can cd into repo and do stow zsh and it'll create a symlink from ~/.zshrc to repo/zsh/.zshrc, another from zsh/.zlogin to ~/.zlogin. stow vim to create symlinks from the vim subdirectory to ~, etc.
I've got a script, install-linkfarm, that does all the stow commands so when I move onto a new machine, I clone my repo, cd to it and run install-linkfarm and am good to go.
You can put this in ~/.zshrc, even as its entire contents:
if [ -r ~/.dotfiles/.zshrc ]; then
source ~/.dotfiles/.zshrc
fi
Please use the export command mentioned below to solve your problem.
export ZDOTDIR=$HOME/.dotfiles
In Linux, you can check if your zsh is loading /etc/zsh/zshrc, and edit it.
If that's the case, redirect this to your custom script by adding:
sh $HOME/.dotfiles/zshrc
Here is an interesting hack that doesn't require you to use sym-links.
In your .xsession, (or .*wmrc) have the following:
xterm -e 'zsh -c ". ~/.dotfiles/.zshrc; zsh"'.
instead of just:
xterm
Make sure to put the -e at the end after all of your other xterm options.
Related
I am having trouble symlinking dotfiles. I have a folder in my home directory ~/dotfiles which I have synced to a github repo. I am trying to take my .vimrc file in ~/dotfiles/.vimrc and create a symbolic link to put it at ~/.vimrc. To do this I type in
ln -s ~/dotfiles/.vimrc ~/.vimrc
But when I run that it says
ln: /Users/me/.vimrc: File exists
What am I doing wrong?
That error message means that you already have a file at ~/.vimrc, which ln is refusing to overwrite. Either delete the ~/.vimrc and run ln again or let ln delete it for you by passing the -f option:
ln -s -f ~/dotfiles/.vimrc ~/.vimrc
There is a better solution for managing dotfiles without using symlinks or any other tool, just a git repo initialized with --bare.
A bare repository is special in a way that they omit working directory, so you can create your repo anywhere and set the --work-tree=$HOME then you don't need to do any work to maintain it.
Approach
first thing to do is, create a bare repo
git init --bare $HOME/.dotfiles
To use this bare repo, you need to specify --git-dir=$HOME/.dotfiles/ and --work-tree=$HOME, better is to create an alias
alias dotfiles='/usr/bin/git --git-dir=$HOME/.dotfiles/ --work-tree=$HOME
At this point, all your configuration files are being tracked, and you can easily use the newly registered dotfiles command to manage the repository, ex :-
# to check the status of the tracked and untracked files
dotfiles status
# to add a file
dotfiles commit .tmux.conf -m ".tmux.conf added"
# push new files or changes to the github
dotfiles push origin main
I also use this way to sync and store my dotfiles, see my dotfiles repository and can read at Storing dotfiles with Git where I wrote about managing for multiple devices.
How to symlink all dotfiles in a directory recursively
Have a dotfiles directory that is structured as to how they should be structured at $HOME
dotfiles_home=~/dotfiles/home # for example
cp -rsf "$dotfiles_home"/. ~
-r: Recursive, create the necessary directory for each file
-s: Create symlinks instead of copying
-f: Overwrite existing files (previously created symlinks, default .bashrc, etc)
/.: Make sure cp "copy" the contents of home instead of the home directory itself.
Tips
Just like ln, if you want no headache or drama, use an absolute path for the first argument like the example above.
Note
This only works with GNU cp (preinstalled in Ubuntu), not POSIX cp. Check your man cp, you can install GNU coreutils if needed.
Thanks
To this and this.
If my .zshrc file is ~/.dotfiles/zsh/.zshrc, how can I create a symlink so that the file appears as ~/.zshrc?
The cd step in Alexej's answer isn't needed as you can call ln -s target destination explicitly.
ln -s ~/.dotfiles/zsh/.zshrc ~/.zshrc
run:
cd ~/ ; ln -s ~/.dotfiles/zsh/.zshrc
for me, when using relative path for symlink, it can show error: ~/.zshrc: No such file or directory error as #astephen2. You should change to absolute path then it working fine
You don't actually need a symlink. Add the following to ~/.zshenv:
ZDOTDIR=~/.dotfiles/zsh
zsh sources ~/.zshenv before any other files, and will use the value of $ZDOTDIR as the location for local configuration files in lieu of your home directory.
On MacOS, you can't use ~ in a symlink where the directory is quoted. You need to use full paths. I'd recommend running ln -s "$HOME/.dotfiles/zsh/.zshrc" "$HOME/.zshrc" Alternatively, you can forget the quotes, and use ~ in place of $HOME, however if there are any spaces (or variables with spaces) you'll probably run into problems.
I'm having some trouble in exporting the PATH I've modified inside the Makefile into the current Terminal.
I'm trying to add to the PATH, the bin folder inside wherever the Makefile directory is.
Here's the relevant strip of the makefile:
PATH := $(shell pwd)/bin:$(PATH)
install:
mkdir -p ./bin
export PATH
echo $(PATH)
The echo prints it correctly but if I redo the echo in the terminal, the PATH remains the same.
Thanks in advance for the help.
If you're using GNU make, you need to explicitly export the PATH variable to the environment for subprocesses:
export PATH := $(shell pwd)/bin:$(PATH)
install:
mkdir -p ./bin
export PATH
echo $(PATH)
What you are trying to do is not possible. Make is running in another process than the shell in your terminal. Changes to the environment in the make process does not transfer to the shell.
Perhaps you are confusing the effect of the export statement. export does not export the values of the variables from the make process to the shell. Instead, export marks variables so they will be transfered any child processes of make. As far as I know there is no way to change the environment of the parent process (the shell where you started make is the parent process of the make process).
Perhaps this answers will make the concept of exporting variables to child processes a bit clearer.
Perhaps you can rely on the user to do it for you. Note the quoting
install_hint:
#echo "Execute this command at your shell prompt:"
#echo "export PATH=$(shell pwd)/bin:\$$PATH"
Whenever I start a shell in vim using :sh, it doesn't source my ~/.bashrc file. How can I get it to do this automatically?
See :help 'shell'. You can set this string to include -l or --login, which will source your .bashrc file. So, you might have a line like this in your .vimrc:
set shell=bash\ --login
Note that this will alter everything that invokes the shell, including :!. This shouldn't be much of a problem, but you should be aware of it.
The value of this command can also be changed by setting the $SHELL environment variable.
If it doesn't source your .bashrc file, it may still source your .bash_profile file. I usually make one of them a symlink to the other. If your .bashrc performs some particularly odd one-time operations, you may have to edit it to only perform those operations with a login shell, but I've never had problems with it.
~/.vimrc
cmap sh<CR> !bash --login<CR>
If you quickly enter "sh<Enter>" in command-line, you can start bash with sourcing ~/.bashrc. So dirty.
When setting the export path in Unix, example:
export PATH=$PATH: $EC2_HOME/bin
If I quit terminal and open it back up to continue working, I have to go through all the steps again, setting up the paths each time.
I'm wondering how I can set the path and have it "stick" so my system knows where to find everything the next time I open terminal without having to do it all over again.
Thanks!
Open ~/.bashrc. This file is loaded every time you start up a new shell (if you're using Bash, which most people are). If you're using a different shell, the file may have a different name, like ~/.shrc.
Add the line you need to the bottom of the file:
export PATH=$PATH:$EC2_HOME/bi
Other info rolled up from elsewhere in the thread:
There are multiple places to put this, depending on your shell and your needs. All of these files are in your home directory:
For Bash:
.bashrc (executed when you shart a shell)
OR
.bash_profile (executed when you log in)
For csh and tcsh:
.cshrc
For sh and ksh:
.profile
Add it to your .cshrc file (for csh and tcsh), .profile file (for sh and ksh), or .bash_profile file (for bash)
You need to find your profile file and put that line in there. Suppose you use bash, the profile files are .bashrc and .bash_profile, found in ~. These files will vary depending on which shell you use.
You have to put those commands into one of the "autostart" files of your shell.
For bash this would be .bashrc in your homedirectory (create it if necessary)
add it to your .bashrc or another .bash startup file.
... and for ksh edit .profile.