Dotfiles (GNU Stow)

This repo is managed with GNU Stow. Each top-level folder is a “package”. Stow creates symlinks from the package contents into $HOME.

Repo location (example):

• ~/Code/dotfiles

Target:

• $HOME (usually ~)

Layout (example)

dotfiles/
  nvim/
    .config/nvim/init.lua
  tmux/
    .tmux.conf
  bashrc/
    .bashrc

Basic usage

Stow (link) one package stow -v -d ~/Code/dotfiles -t ~ nvim

Stow all packages (link everything) stow -v -d ~/Code/dotfiles -t ~ */

Preview (dry-run) Add -n to see what would happen: stow -n -v -d ~/Code/dotfiles -t ~ nvim stow -n -v -d ~/Code/dotfiles -t ~ */

Updating after changes

Restow (recommended)

Use after renames/moves inside a package, or when links are out of sync. Unlinks what stow owns, then relinks. stow -v -R -d ~/Code/dotfiles -t ~ nvim

Restow everything (unlink + relink ALL; recommended for syncing) stow -v -R -d ~/Code/dotfiles -t ~ */

Removing / unlinking

Unlink one package (unstow) stow -v -D -d ~/Code/dotfiles -t ~ nvim

Unlink ALL packages (unstow everything) stow -v -D -d ~/Code/dotfiles -t ~ */

Relinking ALL

Relink ALL packages (stow everything) stow -v -d ~/Code/dotfiles -t ~ */

Common gotchas

• “existing target is not owned by stow” means a real file (or non-stow symlink) exists at the target path. Backup/remove it first, or use --adopt carefully.
• Prefer always using -d ~/Code/dotfiles -t ~ so commands work from any CWD.
• Relative symlink targets are OK (e.g. ~/.bashrc -> Code/dotfiles/...); readlink -f ~/.bashrc shows the resolved absolute path.