A few years ago, I learned how to mange dotfiles from HN post. It’s amazing, but I tend to forget from time to time. So, I am leaving it here

When initializing

This is the first step to manage your dotfiles. The idea is clever.

git init --bare $HOME/.myconf
alias config='/usr/bin/git --git-dir=$HOME/.myconf/ --work-tree=$HOME'
config config status.showUntrackedFiles no

1. You initialize your home directory as a git repository.
2. But your git information is stored in $HOME/.myconf. Hence, no alias or link is necessary

Then you manage like normal git repository.

config status
config add .vimrc
config commit -m "Add vimrc"
config add .bashrc
config commit -m "Add bashrc"
config push

When installing on your new system

Make sure you push to your remote server. I used gitlab private.

git clone --bare <git-repo-url> $HOME/.myconf
alias config='/usr/bin/git --git-dir=$HOME/.myconf/ --work-tree=$HOME'
config checkout

If there is already dotfiles (and there is), there will be conflicts at checkout step. So, move the current files to back up directories.