Stow
Having allot of CLI tools and *nix style applications leaves behind dot files, or hidden files, usually in your home directory. ~/.ssh for your ssh client config or ~/.vimrc for vim client config for example.
Even if these files and folders are hidden, they still clutter up your home directory. Having them stored on one place helps keeping them organized. Or as stow puts it: Organize software neatly under a single directory tree.
Installation
If you are running macOS, stow is available via Homebrew
brew install stow
If you are running any other *nix OS, it should be available in your OS package manager.
Usage
To get started, create a dotfiles directory in your home directory
mkdir ~/dotfiles
Move a dotfile or dotdirectory to your newly created dotfiles directory (… wow). .vimrc for example
mv .vimrc ~/dotfiles
Hop into the dotfiles directory and apply stow
cd ~/dotfiles
stow .
Once applied, you should see the softlink in your home directory
cd ~
ls -la
...
.vimrc -> dotfiles/.vimrc
Versioning and Backing Up with Git
Now that your dotfiles/directories are neatly under a single directory tree, they can be managed with Git.
cd ~/dotfiles
git init
git add -A
git commit -m "Initial commit"
Add a remote and push your newly committed files
git remote add origin <remote-url>
git push
Please note that if your dotfiles/directory managed by stow and git contain secrets. DO NOT let them leave that directory, add them to .gitignore
echo '.dotfilewithsecret' > .gitignore
Organize them files.
root