Added dotfiles post (#15)

content/posts/dotfiles.md

@@ -0,0 +1,158 @@
++++
+title = "Dotfiles"
+date = "2022-01-05T11:36:47-08:00"
+author = "alejandro"
+tags = ["info-dump"]
+keywords = ["dotfiles"]
+showFullContent = false
++++
+
+Not too long ago I had completely different configurations across different computers. Terminal color schemes between computers
+weren't consistent. Git was configured slightly differently between all computers. Lucky for me, there's a program that's well
+suited for this task: [stow](https://www.gnu.org/software/stow/).
+
+Special thanks to [Brandon Invergo](http://brandon.invergo.net/) for
+[his blog post](http://brandon.invergo.net/news/2012-05-26-using-gnu-stow-to-manage-your-dotfiles.html) documenting how he uses
+stow to manage dotfiles.
+
+## Git & Stow
+
+Before I found stow I was using a [purely git-based workflow](https://github.com/alejandro-angulo/dotfiles-bak). It worked but it
+was a little clunky keeping a git repo at the root of my home directory. One minor annoyance was that the repo's README would show
+up in my home directory whenever I ran `ls` (minor, I know, but it didn't feel _right_ to me). I was always a little paranoid that
+I would accidentally commit some secret inside of `~/.cache` too.
+
+My [updated workflow](https://github.com/alejandro-angulo/dotfiles/tree/0af75c92fdbf908f9445bfbaf5e07b0e223db97d) still uses git
+but I no longer maintain a repo at the root of my home folder. Instead, I use stow to manage symlinks for me. My directory
+structure is cleaner now with a directory for each set of configuration files (below are my git and [terminal
+emulator](https://alacritty.org/) configurations).
+
+```zsh
+❯ tree -a git alacritty
+git
+└── .config
+    └── git
+        ├── config
+        └── global_ignore
+alacritty
+└── .config
+    └── alacritty
+        └── alacritty.yml
+
+4 directories, 3 files
+```
+
+Installing the configurations for those two programs is as easy as running `stow -t ~ alacritty && stow -t ~ git`.
+
+## Handling Plugins (and Plugin Managers)
+
+There are some utilities ([vundle](https://github.com/VundleVim/Vundle.vim),
+[base16-shell](https://github.com/chriskempson/base16-shell), [Oh My ZSH](https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh), etc) that I want to
+have available regardless of my underlying system's environment. I set up submodules in my git repo for these utilities so that I
+have those utilities available without having to go through my system's package manager (brew, apt, yay, etc).
+
+As an added bonus, I can rely on plugin managers to pull in the bulk of my dependencies without cluttering up my git repo with a
+bunch of submodules.
+
+```zsh
+❯ tree -a -L 3 vim
+vim
+├── .vim
+│   ├── bundle
+│   │   ├── ale
+│   │   ├── base16-vim
+│   │   ├── fzf
+│   │   ├── fzf.vim
+│   │   ├── nerdcommenter
+│   │   ├── nerdtree
+│   │   ├── tmuxline.vim
+│   │   ├── vim-airline
+│   │   ├── vim-airline-themes
+│   │   ├── vim-devicons
+│   │   ├── vim-fugitive
+│   │   ├── vim-gitgutter
+│   │   ├── vimspector
+│   │   ├── vim-tmux-navigator
+│   │   ├── vim-toml
+│   │   └── Vundle.vim
+│   └── ftplugin
+│       ├── css.vim
+│       ├── go.vim
+│       ├── javascript.vim
+│       ├── python.vim
+│       ├── rust.vim
+│       └── yaml.vim
+├── .vimrc
+└── .vimrc_background
+
+19 directories, 8 files
+
+❯ git ls-files vim/.vim/bundle/
+vim/.vim/bundle/Vundle.vim
+```
+
+Instead of setting up submodules for each individual vim plugin I only have a submodule for vundle (a vim plugin manager) and then
+I run `vim +PluginInstall +qall` to pull in my vim plugins.
+
+## Special Snowflake Configurations
+
+There are some cases where I don't want to use the exact same configuration across all my devices. I've found that this situation
+comes up in one of two cases:
+
+- device-specific configuration
+- environment-specific configuration
+
+### Device-Specific Configurations
+
+I have certain configurations that are device-specific. For example, I have a `sway` configuration but there are slight
+differences between my laptop and desktop because the output configuration isn't the same (one display vs multiple displays). To
+handle this I have `sway-carbon` and `sway-gospel` directories in my dotfiles repo.
+
+```zsh
+❯ tree -a sway*
+sway
+└── .config
+    ├── sway
+    │   ├── config
+    │   └── status
+    └── waybar
+        ├── config
+        └── style.css
+sway-carbon
+└── .config
+    └── sway
+        └── includes
+            └── carbon
+sway-gospel
+└── .config
+    └── sway
+        └── includes
+            └── gospel
+
+9 directories, 6 files
+```
+
+My main sway configuration has this line `include ~/.config/sway/includes/*` which loads all files inside of
+`~/.config/sway/includes/`. My `sway-carbon` and `sway-gospel` configurations will place the correct device-specific configuration
+once stowed.
+
+### Environment-Specific Configurations
+
+I don't use the same set of programs on all my devices. Sometimes there's no need to install something everywhere (I wouldn't use
+my sway configuration on a device running OS X). Sometimes I just want to play around with a new program first before deciding
+it's something that I want to install everywhere.
+
+For example, I wanted to try out [delta](https://github.com/dandavison/delta) for pretty git output on a personal device. The
+configuration for delta requires changes to git's configuration file which depend on having `delta` in `$PATH`. To prevent
+breaking things on devices, like my work computer or one of my raspberry pi's, I updated git's configuration so that there would
+be fallback.
+
+```ini
+[pager]
+    diff = "$(which delta 2>/dev/null) | less"
+    log = "$(which delta 2>/dev/null) | less"
+    reflog = "$(which delta 2>/dev/null) | less"
+    show = "$(which delta 2>/dev/null) | less"
+```
+
+So now on devices with delta installed that'll be used, otherwise less will be used.

themes/alejandro-angulo/assets/css/main.css

@@ -25,6 +25,10 @@ a:hover {
   padding-top: 0.1em;
 }
 
+#content p {
+  line-height: 1.4em;
+}
+
 #header {
   background-color: #3a3a3a;
   top: 0;