My dotfiles

This directory contains the dotfiles for my Debian system

Requirements

Ensure you have the following installed on your system

Git

apt install -y git

Stow

apt install -y stow

Installation

First, check out the dotfiles repo in your $HOME directory using git

git clone https://github.com/JaydotMurf/dotfiles.git
cd dotfiles

Handling Conflicts with GNU Stow

When deploying dotfiles using GNU stow, you may encounter conflicts if files already exist in the target location. This is typically because stow tries to create symlinks for files, but those files already exist. Below are steps you can take to resolve these conflicts.

Error Example

You might see an error like this:

WARNING! stowing . would cause conflicts:
  * existing target is neither a link nor a directory: .bashrc
All operations aborted.

Options to Resolve the Conflict

1. Backup and Remove the Conflicting File

If you want to use the version of .bashrc from your dotfiles repo, you can back up the existing .bashrc and remove it, then run stow again.

• Backup your current .bashrc:

  mv ~/.bashrc ~/.bashrc.backup

• Rerun stow:

  stow .

This will create symlinks from your dotfiles repo to your home directory.

2. Use stow Selectively for Specific Packages

Instead of stowing everything in the current directory (stow .), you can stow specific directories or packages within your dotfiles repo to avoid conflicts. For example, if you have a folder for bash, you can run:

stow bash

This will only symlink the contents of the bash folder.

3. Merge Existing Configuration with Dotfiles

If you want to preserve parts of your existing .bashrc but also want to use parts from your dotfiles repository, you can manually merge the two files:

• Open both files (~/.bashrc and the .bashrc from your dotfiles repo) and combine them into a single .bashrc before using stow.

4. Force Stow to Overwrite Files

If you are certain you want to overwrite the existing .bashrc without creating a backup, you can use the --override or -R option to force GNU stow to proceed:

stow -R .

However, use this carefully as it will overwrite existing files without warning.

Summary of Steps:

• Option 1: Backup and remove conflicting files, then rerun stow.
• Option 2: Stow specific packages to avoid conflicts.
• Option 3: Manually merge existing configuration with the dotfiles.
• Option 4: Force stow to overwrite existing files.