fedora-home-manager

A home-manager like script for Fedora that provides dotfile management and package installation functionality.

Overview

fedora-home-manager is a bash script that helps you manage your Fedora system configuration by:

• Installing and managing system packages via dnf
• Deploying and managing dotfiles to your home directory
• Automatically cleaning up packages that are no longer needed
• Tracking state of managed files and packages

Installation

1. Clone or download this repository
2. Make the script executable:

   chmod +x forge
   

3. Optionally, move it to a directory in your PATH:

   sudo mv forge /usr/local/bin/fedora-home-manager
   

Quick Start

# Initialize the configuration structure
./forge init

# Add a dotfile to management
./forge add ~/.bashrc

# Add packages to install (edit the packages file)
echo "git" >> ~/.config/fedora-home-manager/packages.txt
echo "vim" >> ~/.config/fedora-home-manager/packages.txt

# Apply configuration
./forge switch

Commands

init

Initialize the configuration structure and create example files.

./forge init

Creates:

• ~/.config/fedora-home-manager/ - Main configuration directory
• ~/.config/fedora-home-manager/dotfiles/ - Directory for your dotfiles
• ~/.config/fedora-home-manager/packages.txt - List of packages to install
• ~/.config/fedora-home-manager/state.json - State tracking file
• ~/.config/fedora-home-manager/backup/ - Backup directory for existing files

switch

Apply the current configuration (install packages, deploy dotfiles, cleanup old packages).

./forge switch

This command:

1. Installs all packages listed in packages.txt
2. Uninstalls packages that are no longer in packages.txt
3. Deploys all dotfiles from the dotfiles directory to your home
4. Creates backups of existing files before overwriting
5. Updates the state tracking

build

Alias for switch command.

./forge build

add <file>

Add a file to dotfiles management.

./forge add ~/.bashrc
./forge add ~/.vimrc
./forge add ~/.config/alacritty/alacritty.yml

The file is copied to the dotfiles directory while maintaining its relative path structure.

remove <path>

Remove a dotfile from management.

./forge remove .bashrc
./forge remove .config/alacritty/alacritty.yml

Optionally restores the original file from backup.

list

List all managed files and packages.

./forge list

Shows:

• All dotfiles currently under management
• All packages that will be installed

status

Show current status and configuration information.

./forge status

Displays:

• Configuration directory paths
• Last switch timestamp
• List of managed files and packages

help

Show help message with all available commands.

./forge help

Configuration Files

packages.txt

List of Fedora packages to install, one package per line:

# Comments start with #
git
vim
curl
wget
neofetch

dotfiles directory

Place your dotfiles in ~/.config/fedora-home-manager/dotfiles/ maintaining the same directory structure as in your home:

~/.config/fedora-home-manager/dotfiles/
├── .bashrc
├── .vimrc
└── .config/
    └── alacritty/
        └── alacritty.yml

state.json

Internal state tracking file (managed automatically):

• Tracks installed packages for cleanup
• Records last switch timestamp
• Maintains list of managed files

Features

Automatic Package Cleanup

When you remove a package from packages.txt and run switch, the package will be automatically uninstalled from your system.

Backup System

Before overwriting existing files, the script creates timestamped backups in the backup directory.

State Tracking

Previously installed packages are tracked to enable intelligent cleanup operations.

Environment Variables

• HOME_MANAGER_DIR: Override the default configuration directory (default: ~/.config/fedora-home-manager)

Dependencies

• dnf - Fedora package manager
• jq - JSON processor (optional, for enhanced state tracking)

Examples

Basic Setup

# Initialize
./forge init

# Add your shell configuration
./forge add ~/.bashrc
./forge add ~/.bash_profile

# Add development tools
echo "git" >> ~/.config/fedora-home-manager/packages.txt
echo "vim" >> ~/.config/fedora-home-manager/packages.txt
echo "nodejs" >> ~/.config/fedora-home-manager/packages.txt
echo "npm" >> ~/.config/fedora-home-manager/packages.txt

# Apply configuration
./forge switch

Managing Configuration Files

# Add application configurations
./forge add ~/.config/alacritty/alacritty.yml
./forge add ~/.config/git/config
./forge add ~/.config/nvim/init.vim

# Check what's managed
./forge list

# Apply changes
./forge switch

Removing Packages

# Edit packages.txt and remove lines for packages you don't want
# Then run switch to uninstall them
./forge switch

File Structure

~/.config/fedora-home-manager/
├── dotfiles/          # Your dotfiles to deploy
├── packages.txt       # List of packages to install
├── state.json         # State tracking
└── backup/           # Backups of replaced files

License

This project is open source. Feel free to contribute or report issues.