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bindle is a configuration and dotfile management tool for your personal
unix-like computer.
bindle provides an easy way to manage a user's configuration files,
particularly:
- dotfiles,
- user binaries and scripts (ie, anything in
$HOME/bin), - scripts for configuration and bootstrapping.
bindle compliments manual configuration and versioning. bindle tracks files
in a git repository with a simple and logical directory structure that works
great for dotfile versioning with or without the bindle program itself.
bindle is written as a single well-structured shell script and can be
used with any modern unix-like system.
See xwmx/dotfiles for an
example of a configuration managed with bindle.
To install with Homebrew:
brew tap xwmx/taps
brew install bindleTo install with npm:
npm install --global bindle-cliTo install with bpkg:
bpkg install xwmx/bindleTo install manually, simply add the bindle script to your $PATH. If
you already have a ~/bin directory, you can use the following command:
curl -L https://raw.github.com/xwmx/bindle/master/bindle \
-o ~/bin/bindle && chmod +x ~/bin/bindleYou can view the usage and help information by running bindle with no
arguments or with the --help or -h options.
If you don't currently have a local repository tracking your dotfiles, you can create one using
bindle initThis will initialize a git repository at $HOME/.bindle with the following
structure:
~/.bindle
├── .gitignore
├── home/
├── bin/
├── local/
└── scripts/
├── bootstrap/
├── configure/
├── customize/
└── install/
You can change the location used for storing dotfiles by adding a
.bindlerc file at $HOME/.bindlerc and setting the $BINDLEPATH variable to
the desired location:
export BINDLEPATH="/a/custom/path"Contains all dotfiles and directories from $HOME that have been added to the
repository.
The bindle command assumes that any items at the root level of this directory
are 1) dotfiles (files and directories with a . prefix like .bashrc or
.vim) and 2) normally exist at your $HOME path, aka ~/, which is the
top level of your user account's home directory.
To list existing dotfiles in $HOME, use bindle list
bindle listTo track items from $HOME, use bindle track:
bindle track .bashrcThis adds the file or directory to BINDLEPATH/home and creates a symbolic link
in $HOME referencing the file or directory.
Once you've added a file, you need to commit it to the repository.
bindle commitThis will git add the changed files and do a git commit. See bindle help commit for more information.
To list all tracked files:
bindle list trackedIf you want to stop tracking a dotfile or directory, run bindle untrack:
bindle untrack .bashrcThis removes the symbolic link in $HOME and copies the original file back to
$HOME from $BINDLEPATH/home.
An example bindle-managed home directory:
bin is intended as a directory for executables and scripts that you'd like to
track along with your dotfiles. To make the executables in this directory
accessible to your shell environment, include the following line in your
.bashrc or equivalent:
PATH="${BINDLEPATH}/bin:${PATH}"An example bindle-managed bin directory:
This directory is excluded from the git repository, and therefore can be used for storing things related to the configuration that you don't want to track and don't want in the default directories.
scripts contains several subdirectories for contriguration scripts.
Scripts or programs in these directories can be written in any language.
bindle makes no assumptions about any of the scripts in these directories
and will simply run them.
To run a script that is located at $BINDLEPATH/scripts/example.bash:
bindle run example.bashScripts can be organized in subdirectories. Newly-created bindle
projects contain several placeholder directories: bootstrap,
configure, customize, install.
To run a script that is located at $BINDLEPATH/scripts/install/example.bash:
bindle run install/example.shFor more information, see bindle help run
An example bindle-managed scripts directory:
Scripts that bootstrap the user account and user-controlled parts of the system.
For example, bootstrap scripts could set up some default folders and/or call a
series of install, configure, and customize scripts. Generally, a
bootstrap script would only be called once, during an initial setup.
Scripts that install programs, such as with package management systems.
For example, you could have a bash script that contains commands for installing programs via a system-wide package manager like homebrew or a language-specific one like LuaRocks.
Scripts that run perform system configuration operations, like setting preferences.
Scripts that customize any aspect of the configuration or system.
.gitignore can be used to exclude sensitive information
from directories in the repository. When generating a new repository, bindle
excludes everything in any added .ssh directory except for the
.ssh/config.
.gitignore is also useful for dot directories that have both config files
and large temp or cache files. For example, a .rbenv directory for the
rbenv tool contains both
configuration files and entire Ruby installations that are many
gigabytes in size. You can use .gitignore to exclude the ruby
installation directories while tracking the configuration files.
To view the help and usage information for any command, use:
bindle help <command-name>
Usage:
bindle add <filename> [--force]
Description:
`add` is an alias for `track`. For more information, run:
`bindle help track`
Usage:
bindle commands [--raw]
Options:
--raw Display the command list without formatting.
Description:
Display the list of available commands.
Usage:
bindle commit [<message>]
Description:
Commit the current changes to git. If a message is provided, it will be used
as the commit message. Otherwise, git will open your default editor.
Usage:
bindle dir
Description:
Print the current value of $BINDLEPATH
Usage:
bindle dotfiles
Description:
List all dotfiles. Alias for `bindle status`.
Usage:
bindle edit
bindle edit [<filename>]
Description:
Open a tracked file or, when no filename is specified, the entire tracked
repository in you $EDITOR, currently set to 'vim'.
Usage:
bindle git command [--options] [<arguments>]
Description:
Run a git command within the $BINDLEPATH directory.
sage:
bindle help [<command>]
Description:
Display help information for bindle or a specified command.
Usage:
bindle init [<source-repository> [--initialize-submodules]] [<bindlepath>] [--skip-bindlerc]
Options:
--initialize-submodules Initialize repository submodules when used with a
<source-repository> argument.
--skip-bindlerc Don't generate a bindlerc file.
Description:
Create initial repository file structure.
When provided with a URL as the first argument or a second argument the git
repository at that URL is cloned and used as the tracking repository.
When provided with an absolute path as the lone argument or second argument
after a repository URL, the initial repository is created at the specified
path and a configuration file is created at $HOME/.bindlerc with that
location set as the $BINDLEPATH.
Usage:
bindle link [<filename>] [--overwrite [--with-backup]]
Options:
--overwrite Overwrite any files that exist in the directory where links
are being created, meaning that any conflicting files will be
deleted and links to the corresponding repository file will
be created.
--with-backup When used in combination with --overwrite, any overwritten
files are first renamed with a '.bak' extension. If a file
with the same name plus '.bak' extension already exists,
nothing is done to this file and no link is created.
Description:
Create a link in $HOME that references the corresponding item in the
tracked directory.
By default, the command links all files that exist in the tracked directory.
If a filename is passed to the link command, then it only acts on that file.
Usage:
bindle list [tracked | untracked] [<search-string>]
Description:
List all files in $HOME.
If 'tracked' or 'untracked' as passed as arguments to 'list', then only the
files with those statuses are listed. When provided with a seach string, all
matching filenames will be printed.
Usage:
bindle pull
Description:
Pull latest changes from the remote repository.
Usage:
bindle push
Description:
Push local commits to the remote repository.
Usage:
bindle rename <old-filename> <new-filename>
Decription:
Rename a tracked file and its corresponding link in $HOME.
Usage:
bindle restore <filename>
Description:
`restore` is an alias for `untrack`. For more information, run:
`bindle help untrack`
Usage:
bindle run ( list | <script-name> )
Description:
Run and list scripts.
Scripts can be added to:
$BINDLEPATH/scripts/
Usage:
bindle scripts
Description:
List all scripts. Alias for `bindle run`.
Usage:
bindle status
Description:
List status of files in $HOME with filenames matching those in
$BINDLEPATH/home/.
Indicators display information about the status of each entry:
✅ - Identical, indicating a valid symbolic link to the tracked file
e - A file exists, but it's not linked to tracked file
x - No file exists
Usage:
bindle submodules ( sync | update )
Subcommands:
sync Sync all submodules with the current head commit. This usually be
should be performed after a `bindle pull`. Equivalent git command:
git submodule update --recursive --init
update Update all first-level submodules to the latest commit in each
submodule's origin repository. Equivalent git command:
git submodule update --init --remote
Usage:
bindle sync
Description:
Pull latest changes from the remote repository and sync submodules.
Usage:
bindle track <filename> [--force]
Options:
--force Overwrite files and folders in the repository that have the same
name as the item(s) being added.
Description:
Track the specified file, adding it to the repository and adding a link in
$HOME to the tracked file.
Usage:
bindle tracked
Description:
List all tracked dotfiles in $HOME.
Usage:
bindle unlink [<filename>]
Description:
Remove symlinks in $HOME.
By default, the command removes all of the symlinks pointing to items in
tracked directory. If a filename is passed to the unlink command, then it
only acts on symlinks to that file.
Usage:
bindle untrack <filename>
Description:
Unlink the specified file and move it from the tracked location in the
repository back to original location in $HOME.
Usage:
bindle untracked
Description:
List all untracked dotfiles in $HOME.
Usage:
bindle ( version | --version )
Description:
Display the current program version.