Table of Contents

• Screenshots
• Specifications
• Tour of my setup
  • How I maintain my dotfiles
  • Custom scripts
• Configured programs
  • Alacritty
  • bspwm
  • Dunst
  • GNU Emacs
  • lf
  • Neovim
  • picom
  • polybar
  • Rofi
  • slop
  • sxhkd
  • sxiv
  • Zsh
• Additional programs used
  • Browser extensions
  • Command line tools
  • Design
  • Desktop user experience
  • Device drivers and servers
  • Documents
  • Fonts
  • Graphical programs
  • Icon sets
  • Mathematical tools
  • Multimedia-related tools
  • Music production
  • Software development
  • System administration
• Inspirations
• Wallpapers
  • Sources

My dotfiles for my Linux-based system setup. The structure of this repo is designed to be managed with GNU Stow, a symlinks farm manager.

I don’t know what I’m doing most of the time in creating this setup so if you’re brave (or suicidal) enough to take a look at my stuff, go ahead.

Caution

As they always say: "Don’t blindly apply these dotfiles unless you know what you’re doing." Review the code first, change the setting accordingly, and apply it on your own if you want.

Screenshots

Want to see how my setup look first? Alright.

Figure 1. bspwm setup with no windows

Figure 2. Editors, lots of editors ^[1]

Figure 3. bspwm with some terminal applications

Figure 4. rofi, dunst, and lf

Figure 5. vim and zathura (and LaTeX) setup

Figure 6. A dropdown terminal (because why not)

Specifications

Here are the main specifications of my machine currently running this (as of 2020-09-11):

• Operating system: NixOS-based distros (e.g., NixOS, GuixSD)

• Display server: X Window System using Xorg

• Window manager: bspwm

• Terminal emulator: Alacritty

• Shell: Zsh

• Terminal emulator font: Iosevka

• GTK theme: Arc theme (Arc Darker variant)

Tour of my setup

Here’s what the setup should look like (aside from the Stow packages which will be discussed later):

dotfiles
├── .vtsm/
├── docs/
├── LICENSE
├── makefile
├── README.adoc
└── vtsm

The big picture for my dotfiles setup have big goals and those are (according to priority):

• Easy to transfer and/or reproduce.

• Modularity, @holman-style.

• Looking cool (but not too cool or else my potato will weep).

How I maintain my dotfiles

The dotfiles are mostly intended to be used with GNU Stow. If you’re not familiar with it, you can read this sweet short article to get you started.

However, with Python 3 (specifically 3.8) installed, you have another option. Behold, the "Very Tiny Stow Manager" (VTSM for short)! The best way to describe VTSM is basically GNU Stow with a generic shell runner. VTSM takes inspiration from GNU Stow (obviously) and how Zach Holman’s dotfiles are set. When managing your dotfiles, VTSM is going to be your friend/workmate.

All VTSM needs is a directory containing a package list stored in a JSON file with the name of the packages and their target path. By default, it searches for a file named locations.json but you can specify what JSON file to use with the -m/--manifest option.

An example of what a manifest could contain

{
    "alacritty": "$HOME/.config/alacritty/",
    "bin": "$HOME/bin/",
    "bspwm": "$HOME/.config/bspwm/",
    "dunst": "$HOME/.config/dunst/",
    "emacs": "$HOME/.config/doom",
    "lf": "$HOME/.config/lf",
    "nvim": "$HOME/.config/nvim/",
    "picom": "$HOME/.config/picom",
    "polybar": "$HOME/.config/polybar",
    "rofi": "$HOME/.config/rofi/",
    "sxiv": "$HOME/.config/sxiv",
    "sxhkd": "$HOME/.config/sxhkd/",
    "wal": "$HOME/.config/wal",
    "xorg": "$HOME",
    "zsh": "$HOME"
}

With the tiny manager and the package list, we can then execute commands with all of the packages and its target path with one go. Here are some examples of running commands with VTSM.

# Take the setup as the filesystem structure.
# See the JSON files at .vtsm to see what packages to be installed and where to install them.

# Running the program without any arguments for a test run.
# There should be a bunch of `echo` commands being ran for all of the listed packages.
./vtsm

# Create the directories of the target path and install them with GNU Stow.
# Bada-bing, bada-boom, you have installed your setup or something.
./vtsm --manifest .vtsm/arch.json --commands "mkdir -p {location} && stow {package} --target {location}"

# Run commands only to Rofi and Emacs config files.
./vtsm --manifest .vtsm/arch.json --only "rofi" "emacs" --commands "stow --restow {package} --target {location}"

For the command string, it is a Python template with package and location as the available objects.

Custom scripts

Next are more custom scripts! They’re located in bin/ and ideally should be linked in $HOME/.local/bin. ^[2]

Here’s a list of the top most useful scripts (at least for me):

• A Rofi menu for all of my screenshoting and screencasting needs. The script is also a fork of ceuk’s rofi-screenshot. Big thanks to them for the idea!

• An image selection-to-text script using OCR. Capture a region, process it through an OCR engine, and the content are then copied into the clipboard. Useful for capturing links in images or videos usually found in lecture videos.

• Quick command prompts. The script is based from Luke Smith’s prompt script.

• Switching on/off programs. Useful for situations where only one instance of the program is desirable.

• A universal emoji list for easy copy-pasting and clear communication with those who speak Emojian.

Configured programs

Here’s a list of the programs with details on the config found in this repo. Each of the listed directory is designed to be used/managed with GNU Stow at the indicated target path.

Each of my configuration also tries to be visually consistent but it is only a secondary priority. For a color scheme, my main preference is Nord.

Alacritty

Similar to Kitty , it’s a GPU-based terminal emulator. It’s documentation for the configuration can be viewed at the config file itself being filled with comments.

• Config located at alacritty/ directory.

• The usual target path for a user is at $HOME/.config/alacritty/.

• Minimum version (from alacritty --version):

  • alacritty 0.3.3

• Contains a single alacritty.yaml as the config file. Not much has changed except for the color scheme and the font being used.

bspwm

A minimalist window manager. Only provides a window manager and nothing else.

• Config located at bspwm/ directory.

• The usual target path for a user is at $HOME/.config/bspwm/.

• Minimum version (from bspwm --version):

  • 0.9.7-10-g2ffd9c1

• Simply contains bspwmrc which is an executable setting up bspwm-related settings and and starting up some applications. However, the "true" version is stored as a template file for pywal (located at wal/templates/bspwmrc).

• This allows for a modular setup. For using keybindings, it uses sxhkd (Simple X Hotkey Daemon). For something similar to i3-bar, polybar serves as the replacement.

To control the window manager, you should use bspc.

Dunst

It’s a notification daemon used to display notifications sent by notifiers (programs that send messages/notifications).

• Config location is at dunst/.

• The usual target path for a user is at $HOME/.config/dunst/.

• Minimum version (from dunst --version):

  • Dunst - A customizable and lightweight notification-daemon 1.4.1 (2019-07-03)

• Simply contains a dunstrc configuring appearance of the notifications. Though, the "true" version of the config is located at wal/templates/dunstrc.

Look out for the related manual entry (i.e., man dunst) and the Arch Wiki entry.

GNU Emacs

Another text editor, of course. I finally bit the bullet with this one with the native support for Org Mode as the biggest reason. (Is this going to be start of something sinister?)

• This package is really a Doom Emacs-based configuration more than the vanilla config so you need to install it first before touching the config with your grubby hands. Just run the following command git clone https://github.com/hlissner/doom-emacs ~/.emacs.d && ~/.emacs.d/bin/doom install and it should take care of the rest.

• Config located at emacs/.

• The ideal target path for a user is at $HOME/.config/doom.

• Minium version (from emacs --version):

  • GNU Emacs 26.3

  • For Doom Emacs, it’s not particularly important since it’s in rolling release but for future references, it is from the develop branch at commit efa599f076c3a140c6b4006c352fdba3361abebd accessed at 2020-04-24.

• The Doom configs are just the default config and some snippets (in snippets/) so there’s not much to go through here.

• Regarding theming Doom Emacs, I’ve found mainly two ways.

  • First is simply using ewal but the resulting colors are not pretty IMO and I haven’t found a way to customize it aside from forking and modifying the package itself.

  • Second is simply generating the Doom Emacs theme file myself; I have a small script that is generates one from the Pywal color scheme.

  • Or simply don’t and use modus-themes instead for that light customization options.

lf

A ranger-inspired terminal file manager. Here’s the documentation for it.

• Config located at lf/ directory.

• The usual target path for a user is at $HOME/.config/lf/.

• Minimum version (from lf --version):

  • r14

• All of the config files are basically default config files except with a few personal changes.

Neovim

A modern version of Vim, a modal text editor. ^[3]

• Config located at nvim/ directory.

• The usual target path for a user is at $HOME/.config/nvim.

• Minimum version (from nvim --version):

  • NVIM v0.4.3

• Uses vim-plug as the plugin manager.

• Contains my plugin list and editor configurations in init.vim.

• There are also some UltiSnips snippets stored in own-snippets folder (since snippets is a reserved folder name).

• One of the largest snippet file is the snippets for LaTeX files. It is based on Gilles Castel's UltiSnips LaTeX snippets.

picom

A window compositor forked from compton that adds off-screen buffers and additional effects and animations to the window. Can be used for adding style to your setup.

This is formerly the Compton configuration.

• Config found at picom/ directory.

• The usual target path for a user is at $HOME/.config/picom.

• Minimum version (from picom --version):

  • v7.2

• The config is copied from /etc/xorg/picom.conf and edited a few parameters.

For documentation, check out the manual entry (i.e., man picom) and the related Arch Wiki entry. The default configuration (located at /etc/xdg/picom.conf assuming at Arch Linux) can be helpful as well as it is filled with comments.

polybar

A tool for creating status bars.

This is the replacement bar from my previous i3-based setup.

• Config located at polybar/.

• The usual target path for a user is at $HOME/.config/polybar.

• Minimum version (from polybar --version):

  • polybar 3.4.1

  • Features: +alsa +curl +i3 +mpd +network(libnl) +pulseaudio +xkeyboard

• There is only the standalone config (might decide to make it modular) and the launch script which is copied from the related Arch Wiki entry. The theme is dynamically used with the Xresources file (by using xrdb).

For documentation, check out the already linked Arch Wiki entry and the official documentation from GitHub.

Rofi

The application switcher and launcher. Also serves as a replacement for dmenu.

• Config located at rofi/.

• The usual target path for a user is at $HOME/.config/rofi/.

• Minimum version (from rofi -version):

  • Version: 1.5.4

• Main config is config.rasi.

• Contains the config and my custom Rofi themes.

To see the documentation, check out the manual entry for rofi. For creating or editing Rofi themes, read the manual entry of rofi-theme. Also, view the related Arch Wiki entry.

slop

A select operator for X-based systems with all the fanciful bell and whistles.

• Config located at slop.

• The usual target path is at $HOME/.config/slop.

• Minimum version (from slop --version):

  • v7.5

• It only contains customized selection shaders and whatnot that may be used for my custom scripts.

sxhkd

Stands for "Simple X Hotkey Daemon". It is a hotkey daemon detecting certain X events primarily from the keyboard and mouse.

It is also very useful since it enables modular setup. Can be used independent of the desktop environment (DE) or the window manager (WM).

• Config located at sxhkd/ folder.

• The usual target path is at $HOME/.config/sxhkd.

• Minimum version (from sxhkd --version):

  • 0.6.0-3-g7124055

• Contains a config file (sxhkdrc) for the keybindings. There are some keybindings specifically used for bspwm.

sxiv

A simple developer-oriented X image viewer with a lot of options for customization.

• Config located at sxiv/ directory.

• The usual target path is at $HOME/.config/sxiv.

• Minimum version (from sxiv -v):

  • sxiv 26

• Contains custom keybindings (with exec/key-handler) and a configuration for the status bar (with exec/image-info).

sxiv has a manual (i.e., man sxiv) so that’s convenient. I also recommend Luke Smith’s video introducing it. That’s where I also heard of it.

Zsh

A Unix shell and an alternative to the Bash. Mostly chosen due to its wide options for customization compared to GNU Bash.

• Config found at zsh/ directory.

• The usual target path for a user is at $HOME/.config/zsh. You do have to set ZDOTDIR=$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/zsh at /etc/zsh/zshenv (requires root privilege) though.

• Minimum version (from zsh --version):

  • zsh 5.7.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)

• Contains .zprofile and .zshrc. The primary file to look for is the .profile to set environment variables independent of the shell setups.

• Previously relied on oh-my-zsh. Eventually, the config became independent and can work without it.

For the documentation, check out the manual entry for zsh to gain an overview of the shell. The documentation itself is massive and comprehensive. The main manual explains some things such as the startup/shutdown files and compatibility with other shells. It also lays out the sections of the manual which you can check it out.

Since the manual has been split into multiple sections, it can be daunting to navigate. The most referred sections by far are zshmisc where it gives details on the miscellanea of zsh such as the prompt and special variables you might want to know. The other section is zshbuiltins where it explains built-in commands of zsh.

For coding with Zsh, look into the Zsh Manual.

Additional programs used

As much as possible, I use free and open source software (FOSS) for all of my needs. Not all of the items listed are FOSS, though. ^[4]

Browser extensions

• Bitwarden - An open source password manager. Comes with a browser extension or a desktop version of the app.

• Internet Archive Web Extension (Chrome and Firefox version) - A browser extension for tracking down the saved versions of a page. Very useful extension for tracking old resources that has been moved or deleted.

• uBlock Origin - A security tool for blocking known trackers.

• OneTab extension - An extension to enable grouping of tabs into one tab. Convenient for preventing a lot of tabs opened at one time.

• Privacy Badger - A security tool for blocking trackers. Unlike the other blockers like uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger learns with more usage.

Command line tools

I still use GNU coreutils and common Unix tools (e.g., cURL) but it could be good to find some alternatives. If you want to look for some alternatives or just feeling adventurous yourself, I recommend starting with this awesome list and this one, too.

• bat - Basically cat(1) with wings.

• Buku - A developer-oriented (i.e., easy to integrate with your own programs) browser-independent bookmark manager for the command line.

• Cookiecutter - A project template generator for your…​ projects. :)

• exa - A user-friendly replacement for ls(1).

• fd - A user-friendly alternative to find(1) from GNU findutils.

• feh - A minimal image viewer.

• fzf - A fuzzy command line finder.

• hexyl - A hex viewer on the command line.

• lf - A terminal file manager mainly inspired by Ranger.

• maim - A simple screenshot utility.

• neofetch - A program for getting information for your hardware and software setup. ^[5]

• Neovim - A modern fork of Vim.

• ripgrep - A fast alternative to GNU grep.

• Weechat - An IRC client on the command line.

• youtube-dl - A utility for downloading YouTube videos (and also others).

Design

• Blender - A top-notch 3D modelling program.

• draw.io - A drawing board for your flowcharts and other charts, maybe.

• FreeCAD - A general purpose 3D computer-aided design program.

• Inkscape - A vector illustration/editing program. Alternative to Adobe Illustrator.

• KiCad - An electronic design automation suite.

• Krita - A painting/illustration program.

Desktop user experience

• tmux - A terminal multiplexer useful for managing multiple sessions.

• tdrop - A modular dropdown creator.

• pywal - An automation tool for generating color schemes from images and applying them to your programs.

Device drivers and servers

• ALSA - A Linux sound driver.

• GNOME NetworkManager

• NVIDIA Driver - Since I have an NVIDIA-based GPU (NVIDIA GeForce GT 630), I have to use that.

Documents

• Asciidoctor - A text formatting language suitable for creating books, documentations, and writings. Highlights a heavier feature set compared to Markdown.

• Hugo - A static site generator for creating websites and personal wikis.

• Jupyter - Similar to R Markdown except with a stronger emphasis for literate programming. This is closely associated with the Anaconda distribution. Useful for a variety of document formats to be converted into a website especially with the (bare) support for Pandoc converter.

• LibreOffice - An office productivity suite and serves as a free alternative to Microsoft Office suite.

• LuaTeX - The TeX engine I primarily use for my LaTeX documents.

• Org-mode - A lightweight text formatting language that offers a variety of export options, literate programming, and reproducible of stuff similar to Jupyter Notebooks.

• Pandoc - A universal document converter that supports a wide variety of document formats. Primarily used for converting Markdown documents into Asciidoctor text.

• R Markdown - A text formatting language that comes with executing programs with live output in the notebook.

• TeX Live - A cross-platform LaTeX distribution for compiling LaTeX files.

Fonts

• Fantasque Sans Mono - A serif-style monospace font for fancy occasions.

• Fira Code - A programmer-oriented font that supports ligatures.

• Font Awesome - A set of icons for your user interface and stuff.

• Iosevka - A monospace text that features ligatures and provides a wide variety of symbols. It is currently my terminal font.

• Jetbrains Mono - A free and open source font featuring ligatures by Jetbrains.

• Latin Modern Math - A serif font specifically for mathematical and scientific work. It is based from Computer Modern Math (the default typeface for LaTeX documents). It is also my go-to font for mathematical fonts.

• Nerd Fonts - A suite of font tools. Also offers 40+ patched fonts of the popular fonts such as Iosevka, Fira Code, and many others.

• Noto Fonts - A font family provided by Google. Features a wide support for a variety of languages and styles.

• Plex - The font family of IBM. Offers a wide variety of styles from the serif, sans, and monospace. ^[6]

• Source Serif Pro - A free and open source serif font by Frank Grießhammer for Adobe. Part of the Adobe’s Source Pro open source font family. It is also my go-to serif font for my documents (e.g., LaTeX documents).

• Source Sans Pro - Another one of the Adobe’s Source Pro open source font family. I use it when paired with Source Serif Pro. The go-to sans font for my go-to serif font.

• STIX - A mathematical font based from the Times New Roman font. This is my second math font of choice.

Graphical programs

• Discord - A certain police PSA said Discord users are hackers and I want to be one so I joined.

• Firefox - One of the major web browser second to Chrome.

• Thunar - A file manager and a part of the XFCE package. ^[7]

• Thunderbird - An email client. ^[8]

• Qbittorrent - A torrent manager for sailing the web (or the seven seas).

Icon sets

• Font Awesome - An extensive collection of general icons with various styles.

• Material Design - A community-led icon set derived from Google’s own Material icons.

• Powerline fonts - A font specifically made for them powerline status bars.

• Simple Icons - A collection of popular brand icons.

Mathematical tools

• Anaconda - A mathematical environment distribution.

• Octave - A mathematical computational environment similar to Matlab.

• R - Similar to Octave.

Multimedia-related tools

• Audacious - An audio player with various listening options. ^[9]

• ffmpeg - A multimedia codec including for MP4, FLV, and more. Also can be used as a recorder.

• ImageMagick - A software suite for graphics.

• OBS Studio - A facility for streaming and recording videos.

• Shotcut - A video editor built with the MLT Framework.

• sxiv - Self-explaining-ly named "Simple X Image Viewer".

• VLC Media Player - A multimedia player.

Music production

You can find my crappy soundtracks primarily in my YouTube channel (may consider a SoundCloud account or similar).

• Cadence - A set of audio tools.

• Carla - An audio plug-in host supporting various audio plug-in formats such as VST2/3, SF2, and SFZ. Part of the KX Studio project.

• LMMS - A digital audio workstation for beat production.

• Musescore - A music composition and notation software.

• SuperCollider - A platform for audio synthesis and algorithmic composition.

Software development

• Docker - An application for virtualizing your environments with containers.

• entr - A utility for running commands for certain filesystem events. Useful for not fiddling with inotify.

• GCC - A set of compilers from GNU; I mainly use it for developing and compiling C and C++ languages.

• Git - My one and only version control system.

• Godot Engine - A game engine with its own interface.

• LLVM - A set of compilers similar to GCC; mainly used it for testing other C/C++ stuff.

• Make - A build automation system.

• Vagrant - A virtual machine manager with a focus for developer environments.

• Visual Studio Code - A text editor that comes with lightweight IDE features.

• Whatever runtimes/toolchains for programming languages I have (e.g., Oracle Java, Rust, Go, LLVM).

System administration

Tip	I recommend to start at this list especially if you’re starting with a bare minimum of a Linux installation.

• htop - A process viewer and manager.

• lxsession - A session manager and an authentication agent for Polkit; very useful if you’re usually using with a user-level account.

• Polkit - A program for bridging unprivileged processes to privileged access.

• systemd-boot - The UEFI boot manager.

• udisks - A manager for mounting filesystems.

• udiskie - An automounter for removable media.

Inspirations

• https://github.com/addy-dclxvi/almighty-dotfiles/

• https://github.com/LukeSmithxyz/voidrice

• https://github.com/adi1090x

• https://github.com/jethrokuan/dots/ for his Emacs and Org Mode writing setup. He also has a dedicated series on his blog site if you want the juicy details.

• https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/ obviously.

• Specifically for the tabbed terminals idea and the linked dotfiles repo) (not yet implemented, still cleaning up my stuff)

• Just saving these for an awesome future, hehehe.

Wallpapers

Here’s a list of some of the best wallpapers I’ve used throughout my ricing journey. I’ve also tried to get the creators to show appreciation for their work.

• alien-moon.jpg

  • Creator: rmRadev

• forest-bright.jpg

  • Creator: Mikael Gustafsson

• hotline-miami-alt-cover.png

  • Creator: Mbdsgns

• long-walk-home.jpg

  • Creator: Beau Lamb

• mountain-with-galaxy.jpg

  • I was not able to track down the photographer of this one.

• nebula.jpg

  • Creator: datGryphon

• the-core.jpg

  • Creator: Beau Lamb

• rocket-launch.jpg

• scarecrow-field.jpg

  • Creator: Josef Bartoň

Sources

My personal recommendations for looking out for more cool-looking photos.

• Images from NASA. They also have a small collection of them in their Unsplash account.

• Firewatch (or any style similar to Firewatch) wallpapers are top-notch ricing material.

• Midge "Mantissa" Sinnaeve

• Beau Lamb

• Louis Coyle and his illustrations.

• rmRadev

• /r/wallpapers

• Any image that features a landscape with stars, lel.

• Pexels

• Pixabay

• Unsplash

---

1. For this who are curious for the editors, it’s Neovim, Doom Emacs, and Visual Studio Code.

2. This is a part of the package list but I think it’s appropriate to create a dedicated subsection for this.

3. Migrated after I’ve seen Luke-senpai used it in his recent videos. Seriously though, I find nvim to be way better for configuration.

4. You can also view the package lists at the project root for a detailed list.

5. You can also take a look at pfetch (created by the same author) which can be an excellent reference for getting system information between Unix-based systems. Seriously though, it’s insane; the guy’s a wizard.

6. There is a plan to extend the fonts to include mathematical symbols but as of 2020-03-27, it’s not yet complete.

7. I’m mainly using lf, don’t fret.

8. I’m sorry I’m not using a based command line tool like Neomutt yet. Please don’t crucify me, I’m on my way to be cool, I swear.

9. Don’t worry, I’m trying to be cool by considering ncmpcpp.