Dotfiles

Configuration files for my machines, managed with GNU Stow.

Quick start (fresh machine)

git clone https://github.com/roddarjohn/dotfiles.git ~/dotfiles
cd ~/dotfiles
./bootstrap.sh

bootstrap.sh automates everything under Prerequisites and Install below: apt packages, oh-my-zsh, building tree-sitter and Emacs 30 from source, running install.sh, and (optionally, with prompts) installing jsonnet-language-server and syncthing. Each phase is idempotent, so re-running is safe. Expect ~1 hour on a fresh machine (most of it waiting on the Emacs build).

The rest of this README is the manual breakdown of what bootstrap.sh does — read it if you want to run individual steps yourself or understand what's being installed.

Prerequisites

Install these before running the install script:

System packages

sudo apt install \
  stow \
  tmux \
  zsh \
  git \
  pandoc \
  wget \
  unzip \
  fontconfig

oh-my-zsh

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

tree-sitter (from source)

Due to ABI grammar issues, tree-sitter often needs to be built from source:

git clone https://github.com/tree-sitter/tree-sitter.git
cd tree-sitter
git checkout v0.25.0
make
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig

Emacs (from source)

Due to issues with Emacs on COSMIC, Emacs is built from source with --with-pgtk:

cd /opt/
sudo mkdir emacs
sudo chown $USER:$USER emacs/
git clone git@github.com:emacs-mirror/emacs.git --single-branch --branch emacs-30
cd emacs/

./autogen.sh
sudo apt install libsqlite3-dev
./configure --with-tree-sitter --with-pgtk --with-sqlite3

make bootstrap -j$(nproc)

# quick test before install
src/emacs -Q

sudo make install

Install

git clone https://github.com/roddarjohn/dotfiles.git ~/dotfiles
cd ~/dotfiles
./install.sh

The install script will:

1. Symlink all config files into $HOME via stow (zsh, tmux, emacs)
2. Install tpm (tmux plugin manager)
3. Install the Meslo Nerd Font
4. Configure the COSMIC Terminal font

After install, open tmux and press prefix + I to install tmux plugins via tpm.

What's included

Emacs

The Emacs configuration uses literate programming via org-babel. The main config lives in emacs/.emacs.d/init.org, which tangles to emacs-config.el.

Key packages: straight.el (package manager), magit, forge, corfu, vertico, consult, embark, eglot, casual-suite, copilot, org-mode, mu4e.

The custom my-org-* modules under emacs/.emacs.d/lisp/ are documented in docs/my-org-modules.md.

ZSH

Minimal .zshrc — sets Emacs as the editor and configures oh-my-zsh.

tmux

Configures key bindings and the tmux-nova status line theme. Uses tpm for plugin management.

Docs

Additional guides live in docs/:

• my-org-* modules — custom org layer for category-scoped capture/agenda, projects, and interview notes
• Syncthing setup — peer-to-peer file sync across machines and Android

LSP servers

jsonnet-language-server

Download a pre-built binary from the releases page:

chmod +x jsonnet-language-server
mv jsonnet-language-server ~/.local/bin/

Make sure ~/.local/bin is on your PATH.

Post-install

First Emacs launch

On first launch, straight.el will clone and build all packages. This takes a few minutes. Subsequent launches are fast.

Syncthing (optional)

For Dropbox-like sync of org files across machines and mobile (Android/Orgzly Revived), see docs/syncthing-setup.md.

Install:

sudo apt install syncthing
systemctl --user enable --now syncthing

Then open http://localhost:8384 to configure.