sow

A zero-dependency, self-contained dotfile bootstrapper written in Bash. Deploy packages and symlink dotfiles with a single command.

sow is a single shell script with no external dependencies beyond Bash itself. Add it to your dotfiles repository as a Git submodule and you can bootstrap any machine with just git clone and git submodule update -- no package manager, no installer, no runtime needed.

Usage

sow [COMMAND] [OPTION]...

Commands

Command	Description
deploy	Deploy packages and/or dotfiles
help	Display usage information

Options

Option	Description
-p	Target packages only
-d	Target dotfiles only
-n	Dry run; print actions without executing them
-f	Force; replace conflicting files and links instead of failing

By default (no -p or -d), both packages and dotfiles are deployed.

Configuration

pkg.conf

Defines the package manager command and the list of packages to install. This file is sourced as Bash.

install=(paru -S --needed --noconfirm)

pkgs=(
  git
  neovim
  zed
)

• install -- array containing the install command and its flags.
• pkgs -- array of package names to install.

dot.conf

Defines indexed arrays of alternating source and destination paths. This file is sourced as Bash.

links=(
  ./test "$HOME/.config/test"
)

copies=(
  ./rules.md "$HOME/.config/example/rules.md"
)

Each source must be followed by its destination. Sources may appear more than once, but duplicate destinations across both arrays are rejected before deployment.

• links creates symbolic links, creating directories as needed. Matching links are skipped; conflicting files or links stop deployment with an error. Unrelated files and links are left untouched. With -f, conflicting files and links are removed and replaced, which is useful after moving the dotfiles repository; a directory in the way of a file is never removed and still fails.
• copies copies regular files with cp -f; symbolic links at the destination are replaced.

Dry runs check for conflicts without making changes. If deployment fails, earlier changes are not rolled back.

License

BSD 2-Clause