dotfiles

Personal dotfiles managed with chezmoi.

A single profile setting selects how much gets installed:

• full (default): the complete environment -- Neovim/LazyVim, Homebrew Brewfile, VNC, all bin/ helpers, and every config.
• minimal: a lean set for transient or freshly-provisioned boxes -- shell, git, vim, ssh, and the lightweight bin/ git helpers, with the heavy/desktop pieces excluded.

The profile is selected at chezmoi init and persisted in ~/.config/chezmoi/chezmoi.toml. It drives a templated .chezmoiignore that excludes the full-only paths when profile = "minimal". Selection order: the DOTFILES_PROFILE environment variable wins if set; otherwise you are prompted (default full).

Install

Full (workstation, default)

sh -c "$(curl -fsLS get.chezmoi.io)" -- init --apply johnweldon/dotfiles

DOTFILES_PROFILE is unset and the profile prompt defaults to full, so a non-interactive run installs the full set.

Minimal (transient / newly-provisioned box)

Set DOTFILES_PROFILE=minimal for the install. You are prompted for identity (name, email, GitHub id, timezone); answer them or accept the timezone default:

DOTFILES_PROFILE=minimal sh -c "$(curl -fsLS get.chezmoi.io)" -- init --apply \
  https://github.com/johnweldon/dotfiles.git

For an ephemeral box where you do not want chezmoi or the source tree left behind, use --one-shot (applies once, then removes chezmoi and its source state):

DOTFILES_PROFILE=minimal sh -c "$(curl -fsLS get.chezmoi.io)" -- init --one-shot \
  https://github.com/johnweldon/dotfiles.git

The DOTFILES_PROFILE env var is the reliable way to preselect the profile; it bypasses the prompt entirely and is not affected by --promptDefaults. (Passing the profile via --promptString is fragile: it must be keyed by the exact prompt text, and --promptDefaults would override it back to full.)

Unattended (cloud-init, no terminal)

Add --promptDefaults to run with no prompts at all. The identity prompts (name, email, GitHub id, timezone) fall back to their built-in defaults:

DOTFILES_PROFILE=minimal sh -c "$(curl -fsLS get.chezmoi.io)" -- init --apply \
  --promptDefaults https://github.com/johnweldon/dotfiles.git

This is the form to drop into a cloud-init runcmd / user-data script. Use --one-shot instead of --apply for an ephemeral box. DOTFILES_PROFILE selects the profile (omit it for full); --promptDefaults supplies the identity defaults so init never blocks on input.

Switching an existing install

DOTFILES_PROFILE always wins, so re-run init with it set, then apply:

DOTFILES_PROFILE=minimal chezmoi init
chezmoi apply

To go back to full, run DOTFILES_PROFILE=full chezmoi init then chezmoi apply.

What minimal excludes

When profile = "minimal", the following are not deployed (see .chezmoiignore):

• bin/brew-upgrade, bin/pdftostdout
• build/data/Brewfile
• .astylerc
• .config/nvim (Neovim/LazyVim), .config/markdownlint-cli2.yaml
• .vnc
• Documents/PowerShell

Everything else -- shell, git config and aliases, vim, ssh, and the git-*-all helper scripts -- installs in both profiles.

Note: the promoted git-*-all scripts and bin/git_helpers.py require python3 on the target box.

Notes

• chezmoi prefixes: dot_ -> ., private_ -> mode 0600, executable_ -> +x, readonly_ -> read-only. Files ending in .tmpl use Go templating.
• Template variables are defined in .chezmoi.toml.tmpl.

This repo supersedes the former jw4/min.files minimal-only repo, which is now archived. Use profile = "minimal" here instead.