Dotfiles

Personal configuration files managed with GNU Stow.

Each top-level directory is a stow package. Stow creates symlinks from that package into $HOME, mirroring the directory tree inside the package.

Structure

.dotfiles/
├── gitmux/          → ~/.gitmux.conf
├── nvim/            → ~/.config/nvim/
├── starship/        → ~/.config/starship.toml
├── tmux/            → ~/.tmux.conf, ~/.tmux/
└── zshrc/           → ~/.zshrc, ~/.zshrc_customs.zsh

Prerequisites

# Arch / EndeavourOS
sudo pacman -S stow

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install stow

Quick start

From this repository root (~/.dotfiles):

cd ~/.dotfiles

# Link a single package
stow zshrc

# Link multiple packages
stow nvim tmux starship gitmux zshrc

# Link everything (all packages in this repo)
stow */

Stow defaults to targeting $HOME when run from ~/.dotfiles, so no -t flag is required in the usual setup.

Common commands

Action	Command
Link a package	stow <package>
Unlink a package	stow -D <package>
Restow (unlink + link)	stow -R <package>
Dry-run (preview only)	stow -n -v <package>
Verbose output	stow -v <package>

Examples:

cd ~/.dotfiles

# Preview what nvim would link
stow -n -v nvim

# Remove zshrc symlinks
stow -D zshrc

# Relink after moving or editing package layout
stow -R tmux

Adding a new config

1. Create a package directory named after the tool.
2. Mirror the path relative to $HOME inside that package.
3. Stow it.

Examples:

# File that lives at ~/.config/foo/config.toml
mkdir -p ~/.dotfiles/foo/.config/foo
mv ~/.config/foo/config.toml ~/.dotfiles/foo/.config/foo/
cd ~/.dotfiles && stow foo

# File that lives at ~/.barrc
mkdir -p ~/.dotfiles/bar
mv ~/.barrc ~/.dotfiles/bar/
cd ~/.dotfiles && stow bar

Conflicts

If a real file already exists where Stow wants to create a symlink, Stow refuses to overwrite it.

Options:

# Move the existing file aside, then stow
mv ~/.zshrc ~/.zshrc.bak
stow zshrc

# Or adopt the existing file into the package, then restow
stow --adopt zshrc
stow -R zshrc

--adopt moves the conflicting file from $HOME into the package. Review the diff carefully before committing.

Packages in this repo

Package	Linked paths
gitmux	~/.gitmux.conf
nvim	~/.config/nvim/
starship	~/.config/starship.toml
tmux	~/.tmux.conf, ~/.tmux/
zshrc	~/.zshrc, ~/.zshrc_customs.zsh