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https://github.com/swaykh/linksym

Linksym is a dotfiles manager. Making it easier to create and manager symlink while creating automatic records.
https://github.com/swaykh/linksym

cli dotfiles dotfiles-manager go golang

Last synced: 20 days ago
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Linksym is a dotfiles manager. Making it easier to create and manager symlink while creating automatic records.

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README 

        
# Linksym - A Symlink-ing tool



`linksym` is a dotfiles management tool which acts as a wrapper around `ln` for

creating symbolic links (symlinks) and creating a record of those symlinks in a

configuration file, allowing to easily recreate those symlinks later from a

single file using a simple command.



## Features



- Allows easy creation of symlinks.

- Automatically records symlinks in `.linksym.yaml` file

- Allow you to recreate or restore symlinks from the configuration file



### Workflow



> - Make a dotfiles directory.

> - Initialize linksym with `linksym init`.

> - Add dotfiles to dotfiles directory with `linksym add`.

> - Remove any unneeded dotfiles with `linksym remove`.

> - Track changes with git.

> - On another system or machine, Clone your dotfiles repo.

> - Run `linksym update` to update the `.linksym.yaml` file.

> - Run `linksym restore ` to create it's symlink

> - Run `linksym source` to create all symlinks from the `.linksym.yaml` file.

> - Profit.



## Installation



Make sure you have `go` installed on your system. Install it directly using `go`



```bash

go install github.com/SwayKh/linksym@latest

```



Or get the binary from the releases page. And put directly in your path



Uninstall `linksym` by running:



```bash

$ rm -f $(which linksym)

```



## Usage



```

linksym init

```



Creates a `.linksym.yaml` file in the current directory This file acts as a

database for storing record of symlinks. All other commands require for the

`.linksym.yaml` file to be present and hence this command is required to be

run before any other command.



---



```

linksym add [target] [destination (optional)]

```



Moves the file from `target-path` to `destination-path` (Or the current

directory if no destination path is provided) and creates a symlinks at source

pointing to destination. And records it in `.linksym.yaml`.



> [!NOTE]

> the `linksym add` command can also be used in a way similar to `ln` where if

> the target directory or file is already moved to the destination, running

> `linksym add [symlink location] [target path]` will create a symlink there

> anyway.



---



```

linksym record [target] [destination (optional)]

```



Separate command to add a symlink record to `.linksym.yaml` file. Skips the

Moving and symlinking step of the `add` subcommand. Useful for creating a record

of symlink paths that are already present on the system.



---



```

linksym remove [target(s)...]

```



Removes the symlink and restores the target file or directory to its original

path and remove the record from `.linksym.yaml`.



---



```

linksym restore [target(s)...]

```



Create a symlink for the specified target(s) at their source location based on

the record in `.linksym.yaml`.



---



```

linksym update

```



Updates the `.linksym.yaml` file in the current directory. This updates the Init

directory field in `.linksym.yaml` file with the current directory. and updates the

`record name` fields appropriately.



---



```

linksym source

```



Reads the `.linksym.yaml` file in the current directory and creates symlinks for

each record. Useful for replicating recorded symlinks on a different

system or machine.



> [!WARNING]

> Using the source command to create symlinks will overwrite any existing

> Directory or File at the Source path where the symlink will be made



---



#### Help



```

$ linksym -h/ --help



USAGE:

  linksym [flags] [subcommand]



FLAGS:

  -h, --help

    Display this help message.

  -v

    Show verbose output.



AVAILABLE COMMANDS:

  init

    Initialize the linksym configuration file (.linksym.yaml) to hold records of symlinks.



  add [target] [destination (Optional)]

    Create a symlink for the specified path. Optionally takes a destination path for the symlink.



  record [target] [destination (Optional)]

    Creates a record of symlink in .linksym.yaml, which actually creating symlink.



  remove [target(s)...]

    Remove the symlink and restore the original file to its original path.



  restore [target(s)...]

    Create symlink for specified target(s) that has a record in .linksym.yaml configuration file.



  source

    Create all symlinks described in the .linksym.yaml configuration file.



  update

    Update the .linksym.yaml configuration file in the current directory.

```



## Motivation



I know that there are quite a few tools out there for managing dotfiles. Like

all these utilities on [http://dotfiles.github.io/utilities/]. Stow and

Chezmoi are famous choices for dotfiles management. But they have completely

different workflows and I never got used to stow with the packages of dotfiles.



There's also `mackup` which backups _ALL_ your dotfiles automatically to any

file sharing/storing providers like dropbox or google-cloud. A bit overkill for

my use case but be sure to have a look.



I manage my dotfiles with a simple bash script which just has `ln` command to

link each of my [dotfiles](https://github.com/swaykh/dotfiles). This project was

made to ease that process and make it easier to manage symlinks.



## License



[The MIT License ](./LICENSE)