How do you manage your dotfiles?

Git and symbolic links still.

Ive heard good things about GNU Stow.

https://github.com/harryprayiv/nix-config

https://www.chezmoi.io/ if you've got some complexity with your setup. otherwise, could be overkill.

I prefer to keep tooling for that at a minimum. Therefore I use git only. My approach is taken from here: https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/dotfiles The only difference: My git alias is dotfiles not config. I find that to be less confusing. Additionally, I source system-specific configs, where appropriate. These are not stored in dotfiles. There is a small todo section in my readme.

i take a Phoenix approach with my dotfiles.

Once a decade when my computer crashes and burns, from the ashes emerges a blank slate of dotfiles that is purged of all unnecessary hacks that have accumulated. With a tear and a hopeful outlook, I rush to set the settings I am actually dependent on.

I really need to take more interest in backing up my dotfiles 😭

I'm surprised it's not already mentioned in these comments: https://yadm.io/

Tried all the fancy ideas, never stuck with it. I just use git to track changes now and move on with my life. There are like four functions I carry around with me, then whatever path additions and init scripts I pile up. It’s so light it doesn’t really matter when I move to a new machine

They're in git

I've done symlinks into a separate directory before, but by far my favorite method is to just let ~ be a git repo. It's maximally simple, no other tooling needed besides git.

There are a few key steps to making this work well:

• echo '*' > ~/.gitignore: This way git status isn't full of untracked files. I can still git add -f what I actually want to track.
• git branch -m dots: For clarity in my shell prompt.
• [ -d "$HOME/.local/$(hostname)/bin" ] && PATH=$PATH:$HOME/.local/$(hostname)/bin and similar if there's config I want to apply only to certain hosts.

I used bare git repo before, then switch to GNU Stow + Nix home-manager.

I still put them in gists, with no real tooling. I pull them in selectively when I get a new machine.

I use git (without remote repo, but could be easily added). Actually this simple bare git repo technique is something I enjoy doing in lots of places where config files lie.

Basically, it's only: alias config="/usr/bin/git --git-dir=\${HOME}/.myconf/ --work-tree=\${HOME}"

Of course, a first time setup is required:

git init --bare $HOME/.myconf
config config status.showUntrackedFiles no

I got this setup from a comment on HackerNews long ago. OP comment was rather insightful: "No extra tooling, no symlinks, files are tracked on a version control system, you can use different branches for different computers, you can replicate you configuration easily on new installation."

But I never used any branches, prefer to keep it extremely KISS. I even avoid commiting, just staging area that I keep updating with each OS upgrade. Only this bit of extension I use... since I don't push to any remotes (prefer keeping dotfiles private), I needed a way to copy all of the tracked files (e.g. to have my settings on a work laptop, of course I then go ahead and clean any boilerplate before moving such an 'exported' folder)...

config_export() {
    echo "Copying only staged files, it is recommended to run beforehand: $ config add -u ~"
    mkdir -p ~/.config_export/
    CONFIG_FILES=$(config status | /usr/bin/grep 'new file:' | cut -d':' -f2 | sed -E 's/^ +//')
    printf "%s\n" "${CONFIG_FILES[@]}" | xargs -I {} cp --parent '{}' ~/.config_export/
    ls -halt ~/.config_export/
}

https://github.com/technicalpickles/homesick
It's a bit old (hasn't been updated in 4 years), but works great.

I use yadm. It's a wrapper around git with a few extra commands for dotfile management.

I store them in Dropbox and symlink them to their correct location.

I do that instead of the standard Git method because it means I don't have to worry about remembering to sync each computer. Everything syncs immediately.