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vcsh

  • Clone with SSH
  • Clone with HTTPS
  • user avatar
    Caleb Maclennan authored
    The `mr` utilily is now called myrepos upstream and they have a new
    website address. Update the links in the readme, reflect the new name
    of the project where appropriate, and fix the copy surrounding its
    introdiction. The actual command is still `mr`.
    fbb76b4f
    History

    vcsh - Version Control System for $HOME - multiple Git repositories in $HOME

    Index

    1. 30 second howto
    2. Introduction
    3. Usage Exmaples
    4. Overview
    5. Getting Started
    6. Contact

    30 second howto

    While it may appear that there's an overwhelming amount of documentation and while the explanation of the concepts behind vcsh needs to touch a few gory details of git internals, getting started with vcsh is extremely simple.

    Let's say you want to version control your vim configuration:

    vcsh init vim
    vcsh vim add ~/.vimrc ~/.vim
    vcsh vim commit -m 'Initial commit of my Vim configuration'
    # optionally push your files to a remote
    vcsh vim remote add origin <remote>
    vcsh vim push -u origin master
    # from now on you can push additional commits like this
    vcsh vim push

    If all that looks a lot like standard git, that's no coincidence; it's a design feature.

    Introduction

    vcsh allows you to maintain several Git repositories in one single directory. They all maintain their working trees without clobbering each other or interfering otherwise. By default, all Git repositories maintained via vcsh store the actual files in $HOME but you can override this setting if you want to.

    All this means that you can have one repository per application or application family, i.e. zsh, vim, ssh, etc. This, in turn, allows you to clone custom sets of configurations onto different machines or even for different users; picking and mixing which configurations you want to use where. For example, you may not need to have your mplayer configuration on a server or available to root and you may want to maintain different configuration for ssh on your personal and your work machines.

    A lot of modern UNIX-based systems offer packages for vcsh. In case yours does not read INSTALL.md for install instructions or PACKAGING.md to create a package, yourself. If you do end up packaging vcsh please let us know so we can give you your own packaging branch in the upstream repository.

    Talks

    Some people found it useful to look at slides and videos explaining how vcsh works instead of working through the docs. All slides, videos, and further information can be found on the author's talk page.

    Usage Examples

    There are three different ways to interact with vcsh repositories; this section will only show the simplest and easiest way.

    Certain more advanced use cases require the other two ways, but don't worry about this for now. If you never even bother playing with the other two modes you will still be fine.

    vcsh enter and vcsh run will be covered in later sections.

    Task Command
    Initialize a new repository called "vim" vcsh init vim
    Clone an existing repository vcsh clone <remote> <repository_name>
    Add files to repository "vim" vcsh vim add ~/.vimrc ~/.vim
    vcsh vim commit -m 'Update Vim configuration'
    Add a remote for repository "vim" vcsh vim remote add origin <remote>
    vcsh vim push origin master:master
    vcsh vim branch --track master origin/master
    Push to remote of repository "vim" vcsh vim push
    Pull from remote of repository "vim" vcsh vim pull
    Show status of changed files in all repositories vcsh status
    Pull from all repositories vcsh pull
    Push to all repositories vcsh push

    Overview

    From zero to vcsh

    You put a lot of effort into your configuration and want to both protect and distribute this configuration.

    Most people who decide to put their dotfiles under version control start with a single repository in $HOME, adding all their dotfiles (and possibly more) to it. This works, of course, but can become a nuisance as soon as you try to manage more than one host.

    The next logical step is to create single-purpose repositories in, for example, ~/.dotfiles and to create symbolic links into $HOME. This gives you the flexibility to check out only certain repositories on different hosts. The downsides of this approach are the necessary manual steps of cloning and symlinking the individual repositories.

    vcsh takes this approach one step further. It enables single-purpose repositories and stores them in a hidden directory. However, it does not create symbolic links in $HOME; it puts the actual files right into $HOME.

    As vcsh allows you to put an arbitrary number of distinct repositories into your $HOME, you will end up with a lot of repositories very quickly.

    vcsh was designed with myrepos, a tool to manage Multiple Repositories, in mind and the two integrate very nicely. The myrepos tool (mr) has native support for vcsh repositories and the configuration for myrepos is just another set of files that you cat track with vcsh like any other. This makes setting up any new machine a breeze. It can take literally less than five minutes to go from standard installation to fully set up system.

    We suggest using myrepos to manage both vcsh and other repositories. The mr utility takes care of pulling in and pushing out new data for a variety of version control systems. While the use of myrepos is technically optional, it will be an integral part of the proposed system that follows.

    Default Directory Layout

    To illustrate, this is what a possible directory structure looks like.

    $HOME
        |-- $XDG_CONFIG_HOME (defaults to $HOME/.config)
        |   |-- mr
        |   |   |-- available.d
        |   |   |   |-- zsh.vcsh
        |   |   |   |-- gitconfigs.vcsh
        |   |   |   |-- lftp.vcsh
        |   |   |   |-- offlineimap.vcsh
        |   |   |   |-- s3cmd.vcsh
        |   |   |   |-- tmux.vcsh
        |   |   |   |-- vim.vcsh
        |   |   |   |-- vimperator.vcsh
        |   |   |   `-- snippets.git
        |   |   `-- config.d
        |   |       |-- zsh.vcsh        -> ../available.d/zsh.vcsh
        |   |       |-- gitconfigs.vcsh -> ../available.d/gitconfigs.vcsh
        |   |       |-- tmux.vcsh       -> ../available.d/tmux.vcsh
        |   |       `-- vim.vcsh        -> ../available.d/vim.vcsh
        |   `-- vcsh
        |       |-- config
        |       `-- repo.d
        |           |-- zsh.git  -----------+
        |           |-- gitconfigs.git      |
        |           |-- tmux.git            |
        |           `-- vim.git             |
        |-- [...]                           |
        |-- .zshrc   <----------------------+
        |-- .gitignore.d
        |   `-- zsh
        |-- .mrconfig
        `-- .mrtrust

    available.d

    The files you see in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d are myrepos configuration files that contain the commands to manage (checkout, update etc.) a single repository. vcsh repo configs end in .vcsh, git configs end in .git, etc. This is optional and your preference. For example, this is what a zsh.vcsh with read-only access to my zshrc repo looks likes. I.e. in this specific example, push can not work as you will be using the author's repository. This is for demonstration, only. Of course, you are more than welcome to clone from this repository and fork your own.

    [$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/repo.d/zsh.git]
    checkout = vcsh clone 'git://github.com/RichiH/zshrc.git' zsh
    update   = vcsh zsh pull
    push     = vcsh zsh push
    status   = vcsh zsh status
    gc       = vcsh zsh gc

    config.d

    $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d contains all available repositories. Only files/links present in mr/config.d, however, will be used by myrepos. That means that in this example, only the zsh, gitconfigs, tmux and vim repositories will be checked out. A simple mr update run in $HOME will clone or update those four repositories listed in config.d.

    ~/.mrconfig

    Finally, ~/.mrconfig will tie together all those single files which will allow you to conveniently run mr up etc. to manage all repositories. It looks like this:

    [DEFAULT]
    include = cat ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/mr/config.d/*

    repo.d

    $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/repo.d is the directory where all git repositories which are under vcsh's control are located. Since their working trees are configured to be in $HOME, the files contained in those repositories will be put in $HOME directly.

    Of course, myrepos will work with this layout if configured according to this document (see above).

    vcsh will check if any file it would want to create exists. If it exists, vcsh will throw a warning and exit. Move away your old config and try again. Optionally, merge your local and your global configs afterwards and push with vcsh foo push.

    Moving into a New Host

    To illustrate further, the following steps could move your desired configuration to a new host.

    1. Clone the myrepos repository (containing available.d, config.d etc.); for example: vcsh clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh_mr_template.git mr
    2. Choose your repositories by linking them in config.d (or go with the default you may have already configured by adding symlinks to git).
    3. Run myrepos to clone the repositories: cd; mr update.
    4. Done.

    Hopefully the above could help explain how this approach saves time by

    1. making it easy to manage, clone and update a large number of repositories (thanks to myrepos) and
    2. making it unnecessary to create symbolic links in $HOME (thanks to vcsh).

    If you want to give vcsh a try, follow the instructions below.

    Getting Started

    Below, you will find a few different methods for setting up vcsh:

    1. The Template Way
    2. The Steal-from-Template Way
    3. The Manual Way

    The Template Way

    Prerequisites

    Make sure none of the following files and directories exist for your test (user). If they do, move them away for now:

    • ~/.gitignore.d
    • ~/.mrconfig
    • $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d/mr.vcsh
    • $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d/zsh.vcsh
    • $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/config.d/mr.vcsh
    • $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/repo.d/mr.git/

    All of the files are part of the template repository, the directory is where the template will be stored.

    apt-get install myrepos

    Install vcsh

    Debian

    If you are using Debian Squeeze, you will need to enable backports. From Wheezy onwards, you can install it directly:

    apt-get install vcsh

    Gentoo

    To install vcsh in Gentoo Linux just give the following command as root:

    emerge dev-vcs/vcsh

    Arch Linux

    vcsh is availabe via AUR and further documentation about the use of AUR is available on Arch's wiki.

    cd /var/abs/local/
    wget https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/vc/vcsh-git/vcsh-git.tar.gz
    tar xfz vcsh-git.tar.gz
    cd vcsh-git
    makepkg -s
    pacman -U vcsh*.pkg.tar.xz

    From source

    # choose a location for your checkout
    mkdir -p ~/work/git
    cd ~/work/git
    git clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh.git
    cd vcsh
    sudo ln -s vcsh /usr/local/bin                       # or add it to your PATH
    cd

    Clone the Template

    vcsh clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh_mr_template.git mr

    Enable Your Test Repository

    mv ~/.zsh   ~/zsh.bak
    mv ~/.zshrc ~/zshrc.bak
    cd $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/config.d/
    ln -s ../available.d/zsh.vcsh .  # link, and thereby enable, the zsh repository
    cd
    mr up

    Set Up Your Own Repositories

    Now, it's time to edit the template config and fill it with your own remotes:

    vim $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d/mr.vcsh
    vim $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d/zsh.vcsh

    And then create your own stuff:

    vcsh init foo
    vcsh foo add bar baz quux
    vcsh foo remote add origin git://quuux
    vcsh foo commit
    vcsh foo push
    
    cp $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d/mr.vcsh $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d/foo.vcsh
    vim $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d/foo.vcsh # add your own repo

    Done!

    The Steal-from-Template Way

    You're welcome to clone the example repository:

    vcsh clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh_mr_template.git mr
    # make sure 'include = cat /usr/share/mr/vcsh' points to an exiting file
    vim .mrconfig

    Look around in the clone. It should be reasonably simple to understand. If not, poke me, RichiH, on Freenode (query) or OFTC (#vcs-home).

    The Manual Way

    This is how my old setup procedure looked like. Adapt it to your own style or copy mine verbatim, either is fine.

    # Create workspace
    mkdir -p ~/work/git
    cd !$
    
    # Clone vcsh and make it available
    git clone git://github.com/RichiH/vcsh.git vcsh
    sudo ln -s ~/work/git/vcsh/vcsh /usr/bin/local
    hash -r

    Grab my myrepos config. see below for details on how I set this up

    vcsh clone ssh://<remote>/mr.git
    cd $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/config.d/
    ln -s ../available.d/* .

    myrepos is used to actually retrieve configs, etc

    ~ % cat ~/.mrconfig
    [DEFAULT]
    # adapt /usr/share/mr/vcsh to your system if needed
    include = cat /usr/share/mr/vcsh
    include = cat $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/config.d/*
    ~ % echo $XDG_CONFIG_HOME
    /home/richih/.config
    ~ % ls $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d # random selection of my repos
    git-annex gitk.vcsh git.vcsh ikiwiki mr.vcsh reportbug.vcsh snippets.git wget.vcsh zsh.vcsh
    ~ %
    # then simply ln -s whatever you want on your local machine from
    # $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/available.d to $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mr/config.d
    ~ % cd
    ~ % mr -j 5 up

    myrepos usage ; will be factored out & rewritten

    Keeping repositories Up-to-Date

    This is the beauty of it all. Once you are set up, just run:

    mr up
    mr push

    Neat.

    Making Changes

    After you have made some changes, for which you would normally use git add and git commit, use the vcsh wrapper (like above):

    vcsh foo add bar baz quux
    vcsh foo commit
    vcsh foo push

    Using vcsh without myrepos

    vcsh encourages you to use myrepos. It helps you manage a large number of repositories by running the necessary vcsh commands for you. You may choose not to use myrepos, in which case you will have to run those commands manually or by other means.

    To initialize a new repository: vcsh init zsh

    To clone a repository: vcsh clone ssh://<remote>/zsh.git

    To interact with a repository, use the regular Git commands, but prepend them with vcsh run $repository_name. For example:

    vcsh zsh status
    vcsh zsh add .zshrc
    vcsh zsh commit

    Obviously, without myrepos keeping repositories up-to-date, it will have to be done manually. Alternatively, you could try something like this:

    for repo in `vcsh list`; do
        vcsh run $repo git pull;
    done

    Contact

    There are several ways to get in touch with the author and a small but committed community around the general idea of version controlling your (digital) life.