linker is a tool for symlinking files based on the name of original file.

Python Support linker is supported under python 2.7, 3.3, and 3.4 Thanks to lanshark for adding Python3 support!

Why use linker ? linker takes a target directory and a destination directory as arguments, and links everything from the repo into its correct location, determined by the name of the target file. This allows you to track files in git, edit them in the place you would normally find them, and deploy your config quickly to new machines by cloning. Files common to all machines can be linked at the same time as config files unique to a specific host; all in the same repo. See Example for further detail.

Usage Usage: linker.py [options] target destination Options: -h, --help show this help message and exit -i, --interactive Prompt for all changes -v, --verbose Print all changes -d, --dry-run Print all changes, but DON'T DO THEM -x, --exclude-common default is to link files in `hostname` and 'common' dirs. this will only link `hostname` --delete-existing delete existing files instead of moving them to original_name.back -m, --move-first move a file from its original location to the repo first, then link it back to its original location -c, --common-target only used with --move-to-target-first, this will move the original file to common, instead of hostname before linking back to its original location

Deterministic File Names linker makes a few assumptions: The git repo (or whatever else the target path happens to be) will have at least one folder in it, which matches the hostname of the machine linker is running on. This allows multiple machine configs to be kept in the same repo.

is running on. This allows multiple machine configs to be kept in the same repo. If a target file ends with “.dontlink” it should be tracked in the repo, but not linked by linker .

. Underscores (_) in the target file should be replaced with slashes (/) in the symlink. This allows you to keep all the files for a single host in the same directory level of the repo, but be multiple levels deep where the link is made.

A double underscore in the target file is a literal underscore in the link name.

A file that starts with an underscore should be linked from / , not from the destination root.

, not from the destination root. If a directory named “common” exists at the same level as the hostname directory, those files should be linked, too. (This allows some files to link on all machines in the repo.)

If a file already exists, it should be backed up (moved to original_name.back), unless you explicity include --delete-existing .

Vanilla Example The user “user” keeps their dot files in a repo called “dotfiles” and they want to use linker on a machine called “hostname”. - /home/user/git/dotfiles - hostname - .vimrc - .vim_colors_color__scheme.vim - crontab_backup.dontlink - _etc_hosts - common - .bashrc With the command: linker /home/user/git/dotfiles /home/user linker would make the following symlinks: - /home/user/.bashrc -> /home/user/git/dotfiles/common/.bashrc - /home/user/.vimrc -> /home/user/git/dotfiles/hostname/.vimrc - /home/user/vim/colors/color_scheme.vim -> /home/user/git/dotfiles/hostname/.vim_colors_color__scheme.vim - /etc/hosts -> /home/user/git/dotfiles/hostname/_etc_hosts Notice crontab_backup.dontlink wasn’t linked anywhere.

Move First Example If you already have your files named appropriately, using linker is easy. If you don’t, the naming scheme can be confusing. Using linker -m [-c] will hopefully make this easier. “User” has a repo “dotfiles” on a machine called “hostname” and wants to add /etc/hosts to the dotfiles repo: linker -m /home/user/git/dotfiles /etc/hosts linker will move /etc/hosts to /home/user/git/dotfiles/hostname/_etc_hosts and then link that file back to /etc/hosts : - /etc/hosts -> /home/user/git/dotfiles/hostname/_etc_hosts Doing the same, but adding the -c option: linker -m -c /home/user/git/dotfiles /etc/hosts linker will move /etc/hosts to /home/user/git/dotfiles/common/_etc_hosts instead of ../hostname/_etc_hosts : - /etc/hosts -> /home/user/git/dotfiles/common/_etc_hosts This option was intended to be used one file at a time, and destination must be the full file path.