Do you know what is a dotfile?
To be short, in UNIX-like OS, like macOS and Linux, to create an hidden file, you just need to prefix his name with a dot (.), like .vimrc, for instance.
Since it’s easy to do, many applications and tools we use on everyday basis when coding use some dotfiles to store configurations, settings, etc.
Without knowing it, you already have some dotfiles in your home folder ; open a terminal, and type the following command: cd && ls -al
Using cd without target will move you to your home folder, and the flags a and l in ls shows all the files in list mode.
As you may see, you already have some (if not many) dotfiles in your home folder.
And you know what? Dotfiles are freakin’ awesome. Why? Because it’s only text files! You can edit them in your editors, allowing you to fine-tune any tool you use.
Even more awesome, you can sync them, like in a git repository. And that’s awesome, because when installing a new computer, you’ll only have to clone your repository to get back your configuration.
You can even push things forward by creating scripts to install & setup all your computer! In my dotfiles repository, I have all my config files (shell, editors, dev tools…) but also scripts that downloads and install all the applications I use. When I perform a clean install of my computer, or bought a new one, I just need to clone my repository and launch the scripts. It takes like half an hour, but I don’t need to do anything, the script make all the work.
Interested?
If you want to dig around the dotfiles, there’s many good resources, and the bests are store, as always, in an awesome list: awesome-dotfiles.
You will find there many good tutorials and article to start, also with many examples from developers around the world.
Mine are here, if you want.
