Chat Log: Dotfiles Stow Utility Migration

GitHub Copilot time saving, this probably would've taken me an entire morning. Took about 30 minutes, ish.

1. User Prompt

This is my dotfiles repository that I use to bootstrap new environments. The environments are always macOS based, I work extensively in different VMs for various purposes. I am currently using stow to manage dotfiles, see the README.md for some context. Unfortunately, I find gnu-stow doesn't appear to get much maintenance anymore and it has some very strange and unwanted behaviours which are poorly documented, which means when I come to want to write a new "package", can take me a while to remember those foibles.

One in particular is the nuance between when I create a folder called "dot-something", meaning I want stow to create that as a symlink, vs creating an actual ".something" folder with child entries, which tells stow it should follow that path on the deploy target, create it if needed, but that it should not be a symlink ... for example, many of these packages live under ~/.config

So the packages can contains a ".config" folder, with the actual configs inside that. This can be frustrating especially when browsing the project in a Terminal window!

I want to wirte my own version of gnu-stow, where each package being deployed has a structure of package-name/ package-name/package.spec - json file containing the "deployment target path" relative to the user's home directory, and then the name of the symlink which points to the content folder for this package package-name/content - contains all files that would live inside the symlink

I want this utillity to be written using ruby, the default version of ruby deployed with macOS is 2.6, so it must not use ruby features unavailable in that lanauge version.

The utility should be written in a way that I can run a full suite of unit tests on it to ensure functionality works as intended

1. Copilot Response

Great plan! Here’s a summary of what you want:

  • A Ruby utility (compatible with Ruby 2.6) to manage dotfile packages.

  • Each package has:

    • A package.spec JSON file (with deployment target path and symlink name, both relative to $HOME)

    • A content/ directory with the files to be symlinked.

  • The utility should:

    • Read the spec, and create a symlink at the target location, pointing to the package’s content directory.

    • Be fully unit-testable.

Here’s how I’ll proceed:

  1. Create a new Ruby script for the utility (e.g., stow.rb).

  2. Define the expected structure and parsing of package.spec.

  3. Implement the symlink logic.

  4. Add error handling and dry-run support.

  5. Set up a test suite (using minitest, which is available in Ruby 2.6).

  6. Provide example usage and a sample package.

Let’s start by scaffolding the main Ruby script and a test file.

2. User Prompt

I want the ability to create a package spec, and an content folder for the package, where the config I want currently exists as non-symlinked location. I want to be able to tell the tool to "adopt" the config based on the package spec, which will bring in those configs and create symlinks, and should also support dry run mode, and also update the unit tests for this feature (See above for file contents. You may not need to search or read the file again.)

2. Copilot Response

To support "adopting" an existing config (moving it into the package's content folder and replacing it with a symlink), I will:

  1. Add an adopt method to DotfilesStow:

    • Move the existing config (file or directory) from the target location into the package's content folder.

    • Create a symlink at the target location pointing to the new content folder.

    • Support dry-run mode.

  2. Update the CLI to support an adopt command.

  3. Update the test suite to cover the adopt feature, including dry-run.

I will now make these changes.

3. User Prompt

remind me again how to run the test (See above for file contents. You may not need to search or read the file again.)

3. Copilot Response

You can run the test suite with the following command from your .dotfiles directory:

ruby -Itest test/test_stow.rb

This will execute all the tests in test/test_stow.rb using minitest.

4. User Prompt

I have existing experimental new neovim config at ~/.config/nvim - create a package structure in here for me to prepare for running the stow.rb to adopt it, and then tell me how to run the stow command to run the adoption (See above for file contents. You may not need to search or read the file again.)

4. Copilot Response

Your package structure is ready:

  • /Users/admin/.dotfiles/nvim-experimental/package.spec (specifies deployment to ~/.config/nvim)

  • /Users/admin/.dotfiles/nvim-experimental/content/ (will hold your adopted config)

To adopt your existing Neovim config at ~/.config/nvim, run:

ruby stow.rb nvim-experimental adopt

from your .dotfiles directory. This will move your current ~/.config/nvim into the package's content folder and replace it with a symlink. Add --dry-run to preview the changes without making them.

5. User Prompt

ok, this doesn't look quite what I wanted. the content folder for the adopted config also contains a folder named nvim ... this means if the config files were at ~/.config/.some_app - then the content folder would contain a folder called .some_app, this keeps a behaviour of stow that I don't like I think, as what I really wanted was

~/.config/nvim -> nvim-experimental/content (See above for file contents. You may not need to search or read the file again.)

5. Copilot Response

Thank you for clarifying! You want the symlink (e.g., ~/.config/nvim) to point directly to the content folder, not to a subfolder inside content. So after adoption, the structure should be:

  • ~/.config/nvim → /Users/admin/.dotfiles/nvim-experimental/content

  • All config files/folders from ~/.config/nvim should be moved directly into content/, not into content/nvim.

To achieve this, the adopt logic should:

  • Move the contents of ~/.config/nvim into content/ (not into content/nvim)

  • Remove the original ~/.config/nvim directory

  • Create a symlink at ~/.config/nvim pointing to content/

I will update the adopt logic in stow.rb to support this, and ensure the tests cover this scenario.

6. User Prompt

This looks great, but I forgot to accomodate for dotfiles that are single files that live inside the specified target folder. In this case, when I'm handling loose files that need individually symlinking, I would like to be able to express those as an array in package.spec

So that for example, a package called prompt could contain a single item list that says the file "starship.toml" should be symlinked in to the specified target folder.

A package.spec may contain a combination of a content folder and also individual files to be symlinked to the same parent dir, or only loose files, or only content directory (See above for file contents. You may not need to search or read the file again.)

6. Copilot Response

Understood! You want to support both:

  • A content directory (symlinked as a whole, e.g., for nvim)

  • An array of individual files (each symlinked into the target directory, e.g., starship.toml into ~/.config)

The new package.spec format should allow:

{
  "target": ".config",
  "symlink": "nvim",
  "files": ["starship.toml", "otherfile.conf"]
}

  • If symlink is present, symlink the content directory as before.

  • If files is present, symlink each file from the package root into the target directory.

  • Both can be present, or just one.

I will:

  1. Update stow.rb to support the new files array in package.spec.

  2. Update the adopt logic to allow adopting individual files.

  3. Update the test suite to cover these scenarios.

Let’s implement this now.

7. User Prompt

It might be cleaner if the packge.spec looked something like this

{ "target": ".config", "links": [] } (See above for file contents. You may not need to search or read the file again.)

7. Copilot Response

That’s a good idea! You can simplify and unify the spec with a single "links" array, where each entry describes a symlink to create under the target directory. For example:

{
  "target": ".config",
  "links": [
    { "source": "content", "link": "nvim" },
    { "source": "starship.toml", "link": "starship.toml" }
  ]
}

  • Each object in "links" has:

    • "source": the file or directory in the package to link from

    • "link": the name of the symlink to create in the target directory

This approach is flexible and clear.

I will update stow.rb and the tests to use this new format, supporting both directories and files in a unified way.

8. User Prompt

This is great, I can handle upgrading my gnu-stow packages to my own version from here.

Please can you update the README.md to reflect that the use of gnu-stow packages in this repo is deprecated and will be phased out, and document usage instructions for using stow.rb instead (See above for file contents. You may not need to search or read the file again.)

8. Copilot Response

The README.md has been updated to:

  • Add a deprecation notice for GNU Stow usage in this repository.

  • Document the new stow.rb tool, including package structure, the new package.spec format, and clear instructions for deploying and adopting configs.

  • Include instructions for running the test suite.

You can now direct users to the README for guidance on migrating and using your new dotfiles management workflow.

9. User Prompt

can you write a complete log of this chat, in markdown format, showing all of my prompts and all of your responses, in to a file called "chatlog.md" - as I can't see an option to do this in the VSCode UI (See above for file contents. You may not need to search or read the file again.)

9. Copilot Response

(You are reading it now!)

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