Merge branch 'DotFiles' into 'main'

Document dotfiles

See merge request d_mcknight/blog-content!8

2024-06-21_Dotfiles.md

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+---
+date: 2024-06-21
+title: Dotfiles
+tags: 
+  - homelab
+  - linux
+  - bash
+  - development
+---
+
+In [my previous post](https://blog.mcknight.tech/2024/04/21/Kubernetes-Tools/#Future-Plans), 
+I mentioned syncing dotfiles as a future task. I considered using Nextcloud to sync my home 
+directory, but realistically I only want a small subset of files to sync between devices. I
+also don't necessarily want to share sensitive data like SSH keys or device-specific 
+configuration the same way I do dotfiles. For now, I've decided to put things in a
+git [repository](https://git.mcknight.tech/d_mcknight/dotfiles); this makes updates simple `git` actions
+and allows me to pull everything to a new environment easily.
+
+## `.bashrc`
+I [previously documented my .bashrc](https://blog.mcknight.tech/2024/03/27/Shell-Customizations/#BASH-Configuration)
+but have added a couple new things.
+
+```shell
+alias sudosu="sudo bash --rcfile ~/.bashrc"
+
+if [ -n "${SUDO_USER}" ]; then
+  alias nano="nano --rcfile \"/home/${SUDO_USER}/.nanorc\""
+fi
+```
+
+The `sudosu` alias allows me to open a root shell with my customized `.bashrc`, without modifying the `root` directory.
+This means any changes to `~/.bashrc` are available in an elevated shell automatically. The `nano` alias likewise
+applies customizations in an elevated shell.
+
+## `.nanorc`
+The `nanorc` file is [documented here](https://www.nano-editor.org/dist/latest/nanorc.5.html). I keep mine at
+`~/.nanorc` for simplicity and have a few customizations:
+
+```
+set smarthome
+# home goes to the first non-whitespace character instead of the start of the line
+set keycolor cyan,gray
+set titlecolor cyan,gray
+# color to match my other terminal customizations
+```
+
+There are many other ways to customize `nano`, and many other editors available.
+
+## `.tmux.conf`
+As I continue to use `tmux`, I've found some helpful customizations that make it
+easier to use. The config file is pretty big, so I'll go over it in sections.
+
+```
+# Custom Prefix
+set -g prefix C-space
+```
+Rebinds the prefix to `ctrl`+`space` which is a bit easier to reach than 
+`ctrl`+`c`.
+
+```
+# Shortcut to sync panes
+bind C-x setw synchronize-panes
+```
+Adds a shorcut to synchronize inputs between all panes. This is occasionally useful
+for things like benchmarking multiple systems, or running tasks in parallel.
+
+```
+# Shortcut to respawn panw
+bind M-r respawn-pane -k
+```
+This is particularly useful on my laptop, where I'll sleep the machine with an SSH
+session left over and come back later. This preserves the pane layout but kills any
+processes (like a dead SSH session).
+
+
+```
+# Mouse Scrolling
+set -g mouse on
+```
+Enables mouse actions, such as scrolling and pane selection/resizing.
+
+
+```
+# Mouse Copy
+bind -T copy-mode    C-C send -X copy-pipe-no-clear "xsel -i --clipboard"\; display "Copied"
+bind -T copy-mode-vi C-C send -X copy-pipe-no-clear "xsel -i --clipboard"\; display "Copied"
+```
+Enables copying highlighted text with `ctrl`+`c`; I prefer using the mouse over the
+keyboard shortcuts, mostly because its what I'm used to.
+
+
+```
+# Split
+bind S-down split-window -v
+bind S-right split-window -h
+```
+Rebinds `shift`+`down` and `shift`+`right` to open a new split below or to the right
+of the selected window. Much easier to remember than the defaults that I've already
+forgotten.
+> These are both handled after the prefix command.
+
+
+```
+# Navigation
+bind -n C-Left select-pane -L
+bind -n C-Right select-pane -R
+bind -n C-Up select-pane -U
+bind -n C-Down select-pane -D
+
+bind -n C-S-Left previous-window
+bind -n C-S-Right next-window
+```
+Faster keybindings to navigate between panes and easier to remember bindings to switch
+views. `ctrl`+arrow to move between panes (no prefix required) and 
+`ctrl`+`shift`+`left`/`right` to move between windows.
+
+
+```
+# Config
+bind R source-file ~/.tmux.conf \; display "Config reloaded!"
+```
+Adds a shortcut (`shift`+`R`) to reload config and display a confirmation
+in the lower left of the window.
+
+```
+# Colors
+set -g default-terminal "screen-256color"
+set -g pane-border-style fg='#008b8b'
+set -g pane-active-border-style fg='#34E2E2'
+
+set -g message-style bg='#222222',fg='#34E2E2'
+set -g status-style bg='#222222',fg='#AD7FA8'
+```
+Sets window chrome to match other colors (`nano` and my custom prompt).
+
+```
+# Status
+set -g status-left '#{?client_prefix,#[fg=#008b8b]█, }'
+set -g status-interval 1
+set-window-option -g window-status-style fg='#008b8b',bg=default
+set-window-option -g window-status-current-style fg='#222222',bg='#ad7fa8'
+```
+Customizes the status bar. When the prefix is pressed,
+a colored block in the bottom left of the terminal provides visual
+confirmation (especially helpful when you have nested tmux sessions,
+such as an SSH connection where the remote is also running tmux).
+ The status styling gives the active window an inverted
+scheme to be easily identified at a glance.
+
+
+I figured out most of this through trial and error and anticipate more
+changes as I continue to adapt my workflows to use `tmux`. There are
+countless guides and examples on the internet, so I will definitely be
+experimenting with more plugins and options.
+
+## `.dircolors`
+For most cases, the default highlighting in directory listings works great.
+I've noticed in a few terminals though, you can end up with low contrast
+between text and background colors. If you're customizing everything in
+`tmux` as I am, it is nice to make sure text from `ls`, etc. matches the
+overall theme, and more importantly is easy to read.
+
+To load custom directory colors, I added to my `.bashrc`:
+
+```shell
+[ -f ~/.dircolors ] && eval "$(dircolors ~/.dircolors)" 
+```
+
+To generate the default `.dircolors` file:
+```shell
+dircolors -p > .dircolors
+```
+
+I left the majority of these as the default values, but there were two
+fields I changed because the green text on blue background was very low
+contrast and hard to read:
+
+```
+STICKY_OTHER_WRITABLE 30;45 # dir that is sticky and other-writable (+t,o+w)
+OTHER_WRITABLE 26;45 # dir that is other-writable (o+w) and not sticky
+```
+
+I wasn't able to find an official reference for the color codes used here,
+but [this StackExchange post](https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/94505) was
+a very helpful reference.
+
+## Synchronizing Changes
+As mentioned in the beginning of this post, all of these files are saved
+in a git repository for easy synchronization. To link the repo files to
+the expected locations, I have a simple `setup` script along with the
+dotfiles. This only needs to be run once on a computer and then any
+subsequent updates are simply pulled from git.
+
+> Side note, if you're not using SSH for git operations, do it. I spent
+  years dealing with tokens for password authentication (realistically,
+  my IDE did this automatically 99% of the time) and just uploading a
+  key to GitHub/GitLab and replacing `http` with `ssh` obviates the
+  whole thing.