dotfiles

Personal shell configuration files for Debian/Ubuntu Linux and macOS. Organized by platform — common files are identical across machines, platform folders contain OS-specific versions.

Structure

dotfiles/
├── common/                  # identical across all platforms
│   ├── .gitconfig           # git identity, aliases, behavior (fill in name/email)
│   ├── .gitignore_global    # global git ignore — OS files, editor artifacts, secrets
│   ├── .dir_colors          # ls color scheme (Linux: dircolors, macOS: gdircolors)
│   ├── .vimrc               # vim config — vim-plug, fzf, NERDTree, goyo, fugitive
│   └── .tmux.conf           # tmux — Ctrl-a prefix, vim pane nav, vi copy, status bar
├── linux/                   # Debian, Ubuntu, Raspberry Pi OS
│   ├── .bashrc              # bash config — prompt, completions, tool integrations
│   └── .aliases             # aliases — apt, systemd, WireGuard, docker, git
└── macos/                   # macOS (Apple Silicon + Intel)
    ├── .bashrc              # bash config — homebrew, prompt, tool integrations
    └── .aliases             # aliases — brew, open, pbcopy, Finder, docker, git

Prompt

Both Linux and macOS use a two-line prompt:

user @ hostname  ~/projects/myrepo  (main)
»

• Line 1 — username (green), @, hostname (cyan), path (blue), git branch (yellow), venv (white)
• Line 2 — » cursor in cyan
• Root sessions show username in red (Linux only)
• Git branch and venv only appear when inside a repo or active virtualenv

Install

Linux

git clone https://github.com/KDN-Cloud/dotfiles.git ~/dotfiles

# common
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/common/.gitconfig        ~/.gitconfig
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/common/.gitignore_global ~/.gitignore_global
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/common/.dir_colors       ~/.dir_colors
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/common/.vimrc            ~/.vimrc
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/common/.tmux.conf        ~/.tmux.conf

# linux-specific
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/linux/.bashrc   ~/.bashrc
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/linux/.aliases  ~/.aliases

source ~/.bashrc

macOS

git clone https://github.com/KDN-Cloud/dotfiles.git ~/dotfiles

# common
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/common/.gitconfig        ~/.gitconfig
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/common/.gitignore_global ~/.gitignore_global
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/common/.dir_colors       ~/.dir_colors
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/common/.vimrc            ~/.vimrc
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/common/.tmux.conf        ~/.tmux.conf

# macos-specific
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/macos/.bashrc   ~/.bashrc
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/macos/.aliases  ~/.aliases

source ~/.bashrc

Register the global gitignore (if not already in .gitconfig):

git config --global core.excludesfile ~/.gitignore_global

Machine-specific overrides

Create ~/.bashrc.local for per-machine settings that should never be committed — it is sourced automatically at the end of .bashrc:

# ~/.bashrc.local — machine-specific, not in git
export GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL="work@company.com"
export SOME_LOCAL_API_KEY="..."
alias gowork='cd ~/work/client-project'

Same pattern for git — use ~/.gitconfig-local via [includeIf] (see comments in common/.gitconfig).

Dependencies

Linux

sudo apt install colordiff grc hub curl vim tmux fzf ripgrep

• colordiff — colored diff output
• grc — colorizes ping, netstat, etc. (aliases are guarded — safe if missing)
• hub — GitHub CLI git wrapper (alias git='hub'). Remove if not needed.
• Docker aliases assume user is in the docker group — no sudo required:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER && newgrp docker

macOS

brew install bash coreutils colordiff hub vim tmux fzf ripgrep fd bash-completion@2

• bash — macOS ships with bash 3.2; install bash 5+ for full feature support
• coreutils — provides gls (GNU ls with --color) and gdircolors for .dir_colors
• After installing bash 5: chsh -s /opt/homebrew/bin/bash

vim plugins

vim-plug auto-installs on first launch. Run :PlugInstall once inside Vim if plugins don't load automatically.

tmux

Requires tmux 3.0+. Optional plugin manager:

git clone https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tpm ~/.tmux/plugins/tpm

Ansible Deployment (Optional)

For automated deployment across multiple hosts, this repo can be consumed by an Ansible role instead of running the symlink commands manually.

This is useful when provisioning new VMs or homelab nodes where you want dotfiles applied consistently without manual steps.

Example task

- name: Clone dotfiles
  git:
    repo: https://github.com/variablenix/dotfiles.git
    dest: "{{ ansible_env.HOME }}/dotfiles"
    version: main

- name: Deploy common dotfiles
  file:
    src: "{{ ansible_env.HOME }}/dotfiles/common/{{ item }}"
    dest: "{{ ansible_env.HOME }}/{{ item }}"
    state: link
  loop:
    - .gitconfig
    - .gitignore_global
    - .dir_colors
    - .vimrc
    - .tmux.conf

- name: Deploy platform dotfiles
  file:
    src: "{{ ansible_env.HOME }}/dotfiles/{{ ansible_os_family | lower }}/{{ item }}"
    dest: "{{ ansible_env.HOME }}/{{ item }}"
    state: link
  loop:
    - .bashrc
    - .aliases

Uses ansible_os_family to select linux or macos automatically. Add a vars block or when condition if your family name mapping differs.

Notes

• .gitconfig — name and email are intentionally blank — fill in locally or via ~/.bashrc.local
• .vimrc — defaults to desert colorscheme (built-in fallback) — swap to your preferred scheme
• .dir_colors — Linux uses dircolors, macOS uses gdircolors (GNU coreutils). Both are handled in the respective .bashrc
• WireGuard aliases (Linux only) assume interface wg0 — adjust if your interface name differs
• Weather aliases default to Las Vegas — change wttr.in/Las+Vegas to your city
• macOS sshagent alias uses --apple-use-keychain to persist the key in the macOS keychain
• ~/.bashrc.local is sourced automatically if present — use it for anything machine-specific that should never be committed

Related

Other repos in the KDN-Cloud org:

Repo	Description
ops-ref	Quick-reference sheets for git, vim, bash, docker, and beyond
pi-backups-recovery	Bare-metal backup and recovery for Raspberry Pi using raspiBackup