homedir

This project contains an approach to maintain several systems with a minimum of fuss. To accomplish this, there are scripts to install system packages (if required), set up a home directory for a user, and install user-specific packages. Configurations for many programs are installed by default and some programs are handled specially.

This supports all UNIX and Windows platforms. Other platforms may or may not work depending on their approach to user configuration and support for Python.

The home directory is intended to be tracked using git and shared publicly. It is intended to be used unchanged across multiple machines and so should be designed to work well across different types of systems that support Python and the various programs. Sensitive information is provided for by including hooks to local files that are are not included in the shared repository.

rationale

Keeping the configuration of several systems consistent is challenging. There are some high-level tools for doing so, but are complicated to set up. This intends to be a fairly straightforward approach to the problem.

overview

bootstrap

Bootstrapping a system involves making sure the administrator user is present and satisfies the minimal requirements for an administrator of the system. It also ensures that required system packages are installed.

system

Installing system packages involves ensuring that the system is up to date and all required packages are installed.

user

• program configurations (dot files)
• ~/opt/local
• user-installable programs
• user services (launchd, systemd)
• special support for Windows cmd

supported systems

• macOS
• Linux
• Windows

While the install portion of this system supports Cygwin- or MSYS-based systems, the package managers for those systems are not supported.

requirements

The install family of scripts assumes that they are run from the root of the tee3/homedir directory.

bootstrap

• administrator user

linux

• yum- or apt-get-based Linux system
• root access

macos

• Homebrew
• administrator privileges (but not sudo)

windows

• administrator privileges
• Developer mode enabled

system

• administrator user

linux

• yum- or apt-get-based Linux system
• sudo

macos

• Homebrew
• administrator privileges (but not sudo)

windows

• Administrator privileges
• Developer mode enabled

user

• python
• stow (except on Windows)

For installing user services, the following programs are required.

• launchctl for macOS
• systemctl for Linux

To configure some useful programs, those programs must exist on the system.

• bash
• zsh
• git
• mercurial
• emacs
• python
• ruby
• rust
• node.js
• go

bootstrap

The process below assumes a system with a user named administrator that may or may not yet have sudo privileges.

This is especially useful with a “minimal installation” Linux machine since many packages are not installed by default.

fedora

From the login terminal of the system, log in as root and then install sudo and give administrator sudo privileges.

login: root
password: ************

yum install sudo
usermod administrator -a -G wheel
exit

From the login terminal of the system, log in as administrator and then install git, clone the tee3/homedir repository and install the system packages. At the end of this process, the machine will reboot, so make sure there is no one else logged in.

login: administrator
password: ************

sudo yum install git
git clone https://github.com/tee3/homedir.git ~/Development/homedir
cd ~/Development/homedir
./install_bootstrap_packages_fedora
sudo shutdown -r now

debian

From the login terminal of the system, log in as root and then install sudo and give administrator sudo privileges.

login: root
password: ************

apt-get install sudo
adduser administrator sudo
exit

From the login terminal of the system, log in as administrator and then install git, clone the tee3/homedir repository and install the system packages. At the end of this process, the machine will reboot, so make sure there is no one else logged in.

login: administrator
password: ************

sudo apt-get install git
git clone https://github.com/tee3/homedir.git ~/Development/homedir
cd ~/Development/homedir
./install_bootstrap_packages_debian
sudo shutdown -r now

macos

Install Xcode and the Xcode Command-Line Tools, as well as Homebrew, while logged in to the graphical system as administrator. From a Terminal.app window install the system packages. At the end of this process, the machine will reboot, so make sure there is no one else logged in.

git clone https://github.com/tee3/homedir.git ~/Development/homedir
cd ~/Development/homedir
./install_bootstrap_packages_macos
sudo shutdown -r now

windows

Go to Settings->Update & Security->For developers->Developer Mode and enable it. Install “App Installer” from the Microsoft Store, and the Windows Package Manager CLI (winget-cli) from https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli.

• Boost.Build from Boost C++ Libraries 1.81.0

  • Install from source.

  • Download boost_1_81_0.zip to C:\Boost\src\boost_1_81_0.zip.

  • Extract to C:\Boost\src\boost_1_81_0.

  • Install Boost.Build to C:\boost-build.

    cd C:\Boost\src\boost_1_81_0\tools\build
    bootstrap.bat
    .\b2 install
    

• Boost C++ Libraries 1.81.0

  • Install from source (this will take a very long time).

  • Download boost_1_81_0.zip to C:\Boost\src\boost_1_81_0.zip.

  • Extract to C:\Boost\src\boost_1_81_0.

  • Install versioned Boost C++ Libraries to C:\Boost.

    cd C:\Boost\src\boost_1_81_0
    bootstrap.bat
    .\b2 --layout=system variant=release address-model=64 install
    

From a cmd window install the system packages. At the end of this process, the machine will reboot, so make sure there is no one else logged in.

winget install --exact --id Git.Git
git clone https://github.com/tee3/homedir.git C:\Users\administrator\Development\homedir
cd C:\Users\administrator\Development\homedir
install_bootstrap_packages_windows
shutdown /r

windows subsystem for linux

This is a Ubunutu-based command-line system within Windows 10 Anniversary Edition. As such, it is supported as if it were a Debian system above.

1. Enable the Developer Mode radio button in Settings->Update & security->For developers.

2. Enable the Windows Subsystem for Linux in Control Panel->Programs->Turn Windows features on or off and follow the instructions and reboot.

3. Run bash within a Command Prompt and agree to install Ubuntu.

4. Enter administrator when asked for a user.

5. Exit the Command Prompt.

6. Run Bash on Ubuntu for Windows from the Start Menu, which will log in as administrator.

7. Add a user USER by running the following command.

   sudo /usr/sbin/adduser USER
   

8. Exit the Bash on Ubuntu for Windows shell.

From the login terminal of the system, log in as administrator by running Bash on Ubuntu for Windows and then install git, clone the tee3/homedir repository and install the system packages.

sudo apt-get install git
git clone https://github.com/tee3/homedir.git ~/Development/homedir
cd ~/Development/homedir
./install_bootstrap_packages_debian

Note that Windows Subsystem for Linux is supported as it is a apt-get-based system. While this is a true Linux system, there are still some limitations. It is based on Ubuntu (and an earlier version of Debian), and so runs some older packages. It also seems as if the init system is not run as expected.

The following provides some ad-hoc workarounds for these limitations.

1. To switch to the administrator user, run the lxrun command as shown below.

   lxrun /setdefaultuser administrator
   

2. To update the package databases, run the lxrun command as shown below.

   lxrun /update
   

system

Installing system packages should be done as necessary as it updates the system as well as installs system packages added after the initial bootstrap of the system.

NOTE: Installing system packages should really be generalized a bit since packages required for work are the same regardless of which system you are on. A package list with a script for each system that processes the list and turns it into commands to Homebrew, apt-get, yum, etc. would be an interesting approach.

The system install scripts are written in the least-common denominator language for the system on which it runs.

fedora

To install system packages for Fedora-based systems (via yum), run the following script as a user with sudo permission.

./install_system_packages_fedora

debian

To install system packages for Debian-based systems (via apt-get), run the following script as a user with sudo permission.

./install_system_packages_debian

macos

To install system packages for macOS (via Homebrew), run the following script as the administrator of the system. Note that this does not use sudo as Homebrew does not require it.

./install_system_packages_macos

windows

To install system packages for Windows, run the following script as the administrator of the system.

install_system_packages_windows

user

To set up a new system or update an existing system for a user, run the following commands when logged in as that user. Note that all system packages should be installed prior to the install script via the bootstrap procedure above so all support applications are properly set up.

The install script checks for the requirements and then helps the user set up a home directory. There is special support for features that require it. It is not recommended to install the ~/opt/local directories or the scripting language tools for the administrator user.

Note that the install script and its supported scripts require Python.

python3 install

Support for sensitive information

Each supported feature provides local, machine, or user-specific files for configuration local to a particular machine or user that is not appropriate to put on a public server. This includes things like names, email addresses, keys, certificates, and other sensitive information.

support for sh

This contains support for the Bourne Shell (sh) via the ~/.profile file.

The configuration system generates a ~/.profile.local file for local configuration. It is initially empty.

support for bash

This contains support for the Bourne Again Shell (Bash) by including ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bashrc, ~/.bash_logout, and ~/.bashrc.local files. This builds off the Bourne Shell support.

The configuration system generates a ~/.bashrc.local file for local configuration. It is initially empty.

support for zsh

This contains support for the Z Shell (bash) by including ~/.zprofile and ~/.zshrc files. This builds off the Bourne Shell support.

The configuration system generates a ~/.zshrc.local file for local configuration. It is initially empty.

support for cmd

This contains some minimal support for cmd such that HOME is set properly and development tools are properly set up. This models how bash is initialized by adding a ~/.cmdrc.bat file (and ~/.cmdrc.local.bat file) that is executed on starting cmd.

The configuration system generates a ~/.cmdrc.local.bat file for local configuration. It is initially empty.

support for emacs

This contains a ~/.emacs file, which installs and configures Emacs packages automatically via use-package and package.

The configuration system generates ~/.emacs.machine.el and ~/.emacs.user.el for local machine and user configuration. These files initially contain only boilerplate for Emacs Lisp file. The configuration system optionally will provide the user with suggestions to set up these files to properly set the system’s name and the user’s name and email address since these are often detected incorrectly by Emacs.

There is a also a very minimal Emacs configuration file named ~/.emacs.minimal.el. This can be installed to ~/.emacs manually on systems that do not require a full homedir installation.

It can also be used to experiment with a minimally-configured Emacs. Run the following command to use Emacs with the minimal Emacs configuration.

emacs -nw -q -l ~/.emacs.minimal.el

This is not exactly the same as running Emacs with ~/.emacs, but it is close enough for experimentation.

support for ssh

This includes ~/.ssh/config file to configure SSH. This is intended to be portable across all systems including Windows.

The ~/.ssh/config file includes all files in the directory ~/.ssh/config.d. This is intended for configuration parameters that are sensitive and should not be shared on a public server.

The user is required to move the current contents of ~/.ssh/config before migrating to this approach since it is a fairly complicated process. One approach is to move the existing ~/.ssh/config file to a file in ~/.ssh/config.d. This will override all settings in the shared ~/.ssh/config file.

support for git

This includes ~/.gitconfig, ~/.gitignore, and ~/.gitattributes files to configure Git. This is intended to be portable across all systems including Windows.

The ~/.gitconfig file includes files named ~/.gitconfig.machine and ~/.gitconfig.user for machine-specific and user-specific configuration parameters. This is intended for configuration parameters that are sensitive and should not be shared on a public server.

The install script will migrate the user name/email from ~/.gitconfig to ~/.gitconfig.user as required.

support for ~/opt/local

The install script will build a directory structure at ~/opt/local if it does not exist.

This is populated with source packages described below.

support for python packages

Python packages are installed using the user protocol and a requirements file defines the installed Python packages.

See install_python_packages.txt for a list of installed Python packages.

support for ruby packages

Ruby gems are installed using the user protocol and a Gemfile defines the installed Ruby packages.

See install_ruby_packages.gemfile for a list of installed Ruby packages.

support for rust packages

Rust programs are using installed for the local user, which is the default.

See install_rust_packages.txt for a list of installed Rust packages.

support for node.js packages

Node.js modules are installed to the user’s home directory under ~/.node_modules and a text file defines the installed Node.js modules.

See the install_node_packages.txt for a list of installed Node.js packages.

Note that this might be done more cleanly by using a package.json file and the npm install machinery for it directly instead of a text file of npm package names. Unfortunately, I have not figured out how to do this yet.

support for go packages

Go packages are installed to the user’s home directory under ~/.go and a text file defines the installed Go packages.

See the install_go_packages.txt for a list of installed Go packages.

support for source packages

There is a script to support installing packages that are not supported by a standard package manager or require special consideration.

• tee3-c-style
• msvc-c-style
• git-svn-update-externals
• boost

See the bottom of the script for an more up-to-date list of source packages.

support for boost versions

There is a script to install any version of Boost C++ Libraries into a directory in the ~/opt/local/src/boost directory.

See the script for the details.