1VCSH(1) VCSH(1)
2
6 vcsh - Version Control System for $HOME - multiple Git repositories in
7 $HOME
8
10 vcsh [options] command
11 vcsh clone [-b branch] url [repo]
13 vcsh delete repo
15 vcsh enter repo
17 vcsh foreach [-g] git command
19 vcsh help
21 vcsh init repo
23 vcsh list
25 vcsh list-tracked [repo]
27 vcsh list-untracked [-a] [-r] [repo]
29 vcsh pull
31 vcsh push
33 vcsh rename repo newname
35 vcsh run repo shell command
37 vcsh status [repo]
39 vcsh upgrade repo
41 vcsh version
43 vcsh which substring
45 vcsh write-gitignore [repo]
47 vcsh repo gitcommand
49 vcsh repo
51
53 vcsh allows you to have several git(1) repositories, all maintaining
54 their working trees in $HOME without clobbering each other. That, in
55 turn, means you can have one repository per config set (zsh, vim, ssh,
56 etc), picking and choosing which configs you want to use on which ma‐
57 chine.
58 vcsh is using a technique called fake bare Git repositories, keeping
60 $GIT_DIR in a different directory from $GIT_WORK_TREE which is pointed
61 to $HOME.
62 The use of symlinks is not needed in this setup, making for a cleaner
64 setup.
65 vcsh was designed with mr(1) in mind so you might want to install it
67 alongside vcsh. That being said, you can easily use vcsh without mr if
68 you prefer.
69 A sample configuration for vcsh and mr can be found at
71 https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh_mr_template and used with vcsh clone
72 https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh_mr_template mr.
73 Please note that you can always use a path instead of a name for repo.
75 This is needed to support mr and other scripts properly and of no con‐
76 cern to an interactive user.
77
79 -c Source file prior to other configuration files
80 -d Enable debug mode
82 -v Enable verbose mode
84
86 clone Clone an existing repository.
87 If you need to clone a bundle of repositories, look into the
89 post-clone-retired hook.
90 You can also use a single git repository with several branches.
92 Use the -b option to specify a branch at clone time, the default
93 is master.
94 commit Commit in all repositories
96 delete Delete an existing repository.
98 enter Enter repository; spawn new $SHELL with $GIT_DIR set.
100 foreach
102 Execute git command for every vcsh repository.
103 -g: Execute in general context.
105 help Display help.
107 init Initialize an empty repository.
109 list List all local vcsh repositories.
111 list-tracked
113 List all files tracked by vcsh.
114 If you want to list files tracked by a specific repository, sim‐
116 ply append the repository´s name last.
117 list-tracked-by
119 List files tracked by a repository.
120 This is a legacy command; you should use list-tracked <repo> in‐
122 stead.
123 list-untracked
125 List all files NOT tracked by vcsh.
126 -a: Show all files. By default, the git ls-files --exclude-stan‐
128 dard is called.
129 -r: Recursive mode. By default, the file list is shallow and
131 stops at directory levels where possible.
132 $repo: List files not tracked by this specific repository.
134 pull Pull from all vcsh remotes.
136 push Push to all vcsh remotes.
138 rename Rename a repository.
140 run Run command with $GIT_DIR and $GIT_WORK_TREE set. Allows you to
142 run any and all commands without any restrictions. Use with
143 care.
144 Please note that there is a somewhat magic feature for run. In‐
146 stead of repo it accepts path, as well. Anything that has a
147 slash in it will be assumed to be a path. vcsh run will then op‐
148 erate on this directory instead of the one normally generated
149 from the repository´s name. This is needed to support mr and
150 other scripts properly and of no concern to an interactive user.
151 status Show statuses of all/one vcsh repositories.
153 upgrade
155 Upgrade repository to currently recommended settings.
156 version
158 Print version information.
159 which substring
161 Find substring in name of any tracked file.
162 write-gitignore
164 Write .gitignore.d/repo via git ls-files. If repo is not speci‐
165 fied but we´re withing a vcsh repository, use that.
166 repo gitcommand
168 Shortcut to run git commands on a repo. Will prepend git to git‐
169 command.
170 repo Shortcut to run vcsh enter <repo>.
172
174 As noted earlier, vcsh will set $GIT_DIR and $GIT_WORK_TREE to the ap‐
175 propriate values for fake bare Git repositories.
176
178 There are several ways to turn the various knobs on vcsh. In order of
179 ascending precedence, they are:
180 ○ VARIABLE=foo vcsh
182 ○
184 ○ <$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/config>
187 ○ vcsh -c <file>
189 Please note that those files are sourced. Any and all commands will be
193 executed in the context of your shell.
194 Interesting knobs you can turn:
196 $VCSH_GITATTRIBUTES
198 Can be none, or any other value.
199 none will not maintain Git attributes in a special location.
201 If set to any other value, repo-specific gitattributes files
203 will be maintained.
204 Defaults to none.
206 $VCSH_GITIGNORE
208 Can be exact, none, or recursive.
209 exact will seed the repo-specific ignore file with all file and
211 directory names which git ls-files returns.
212 none will not write any ignore file.
214 recursive will descend through all directories recursively addi‐
216 tionally to the above.
217 Defaults to exact.
219 $VCSH_WORKTREE
221 Can be absolute, or relative.
222 absolute will set an absolute path; defaulting to $HOME.
224 relative will set a path relative to $GIT_DIR.
226 Defaults to absolute.
228 Less interesting knobs you could turn:
230 $VCSH_DEBUG
232 Enter debug mode.
233 $XDG_CONFIG_HOME
235 As specified in the ´XDG Base Directory Specification´, see
236 http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html
237 Defaults to <$HOME/.config>.
239 $VCSH_REPO_D
241 The directory where repositories are read from and stored.
242 Defaults to <$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/repo.d>.
244 $VCSH_HOOK_D
246 The directory where hooks are read from.
247 Defaults to <$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/hooks-enabled>.
249 $VCSH_BASE
251 The directory where repositories are checked out to.
252 Defaults to $HOME.
254
256 vcsh provides a hook system. Hook scripts must be executable and should
257 be placed in <$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/hooks-available>. From there, they
258 can be soft-linked into <$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/hooks-enabled>; vcsh
259 will only execute hooks that are in this directory.
260 Hooks follow a simple format. pre-run will be run before anything is
262 run. If you want to have more than one script for a certain hook, just
263 append any kind of string to order them. A system of pre-run,
264 <pre-run.10>, <pre-run.20> etc is suggested; other options would be
265 pre-run-10 or <pre-run.sh>. A dot after the hook name is optional.
266 If you want to create hooks for a specific vcsh repository, simply
268 prepend the repository´s name, followed by a dot, i.e. <zsh.pre-run>.
269 Otherwise, the same rules as above apply. The dot between the reposi‐
270 tory´s name and the hook is mandatory, though.
271 Available hooks are pre-clone, post-clone, post-clone-retired, pre-com‐
273 mand, post-command, pre-enter, post-enter, pre-init, post-init,
274 pre-pull, post-pull, pre-push, post-push, pre-run, post-run, pre-up‐
275 grade, and post-upgrade. If you need more, vcsh is trivial to patch,
276 but please let upstream know so we can ship them by default.
277
279 vcsh also provides an overlay system. Similar to hooks, the recommended
280 locations are <$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/overlays-available> and <$XDG_CON‐
281 FIG_HOME/vcsh/overlays-enabled>.
282 Overlays follow the same rules as hooks and you are free to overwrite
284 any and all functions. Same as hooks, you can use global or reposi‐
285 tory-specific overlays by using either <$VCSH_OVERLAY_D/$VCSH_COMMAND>
286 or <$VCSH_OVERLAY_D/$VCSH_REPO_NAME.$VCSH_COMMAND>.
287 Please note that nothing stops you from, e.g. overwriting status() in
289 <$VCSH_OVERLAY_D/commit>. As the overlays will be sourced and you are
290 replacing arbitrary functions, any and all features may stop working,
291 or you may even lose data.
292 You have been warned.
294
296 Manpages are often short and sometimes useless to glean best practices
297 from. While the author tried to avoid this in this case, manpages can
298 not cover detailed howtos.
299 This software also comes with a file called <README.md>. It contains
301 various approaches to setting up and using vcsh. You can view the file
302 it as plain text or render it into various other formats via Markdown.
303 On Debian-based systems, this file can be found in .
305
307 vcsh allows you to execute arbitrary commands via vcsh run. For exam‐
308 ple, adding a sudo(8) rule for vcsh would be pretty stupid.
309 Additionally, vcsh will source, i.e. execute, all files listed in CON‐
311 FIG. You can put any and all commands into these config files and they
312 will be executed.
313
315 None are known at this time, but reports and/or patches are more than
316 welcome.
317
319 If you rely on git submodule use git 1.7.12 or later. Earlier versions
320 do not clean internal variables properly before descending into submod‐
321 ules, resulting in unhappy end users.
322
324 Like most people, the author initially made do with a single repository
325 for all config files, all of which were soft-linked into $HOME.
326 Martin F. Krafft aka madduck came up with the concept of fake bare Git
328 repositories.
329 vcsh was initially written by madduck. This version is a re-implementa‐
331 tion from scratch with a lot more features. madduck graciously agreed
332 to let the author take over the name.
333
335 This manpage and vcsh itself were written by Richard "RichiH" Hartmann.
336
338 Copyright 2011-2015 Richard Hartmann mailto:richih@debian.org
339 Licensed under the GNU GPL version 2 or higher.
341 https://github.com/RichiH/vcsh
343
345 git(1), mr(1)
346 October 2021 VCSH(1)