dotfiles

Personal shell configuration for macOS (zsh), Linux/bash servers, and Windows (PowerShell).

Structure

dotfiles/
├── shell/
│   ├── aliases.sh           # shared aliases — sourced by .zshrc and .bashrc
│   └── profile.ps1          # shared aliases for PowerShell (mirrors aliases.sh)
├── .zshrc                   # macOS / zsh (oh-my-zsh + powerlevel10k)
├── .bashrc                  # Linux servers / bash
├── .vimrc
├── .p10k.zsh
└── scripts/
    ├── bootstrap.sh          # full setup: macOS or personal Linux (installs zsh, omz, etc.)
    ├── bootstrap_server.sh   # minimal setup: bash servers (aliases + vimrc only)
    ├── bootstrap_windows.ps1 # Windows PowerShell setup
    └── bootstrap_vim.sh      # vim/neovim only

New machine (macOS or personal Linux)

bash -lc 'git clone https://github.com/dylangovender/dotfiles.git ~/dotfiles && ~/dotfiles/scripts/bootstrap.sh'

Server / EC2 (bash, no zsh)

git clone https://github.com/dylangovender/dotfiles.git ~/dotfiles && ~/dotfiles/scripts/bootstrap_server.sh

Windows (PowerShell)

# One-time: allow local scripts to run
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser

# Clone and bootstrap
git clone https://github.com/dylangovender/dotfiles.git $HOME\dotfiles
. $HOME\dotfiles\scripts\bootstrap_windows.ps1

Note: creating a symlink for $PROFILE requires Windows Developer Mode (Settings → For developers → Developer Mode) or running PowerShell as Administrator. The bootstrap script falls back to a dot-source line automatically if symlinks aren't available.

Local dependencies (not in this repo)

Some aliases in .zshrc reference SSH host aliases defined in ~/.ssh/config. This file is intentionally not tracked here as it contains machine-specific paths and credentials.

After setting up a new machine, create the relevant Host blocks in ~/.ssh/config manually. The minimum required block format is:

Host <alias>
    HostName <ip-or-hostname>
    User <username>
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/<keyname>
    IdentitiesOnly yes

Aliases that depend on ~/.ssh/config being configured:

• sshwait — requires a host alias matching the name used in the alias

Adding aliases

Edit shell/aliases.sh (bash/zsh) and mirror the change in shell/profile.ps1 (PowerShell), then commit and push.

On any machine to pull updates:

• macOS/Linux: git -C ~/dotfiles pull && source ~/.zshrc (or ~/.bashrc)
• Windows: git -C $HOME\dotfiles pull then restart PowerShell (or . $PROFILE)