# Dotfiles and Custom Images **URL:** \ **Category:** Contributing\ **Created:** [February 14, 2024, 5:52pm UTC](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/dotfiles-and-custom-images/596 "2024-02-14T17:52:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Heus-Sueh](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/universal-blue.discourse.group/heus-sueh/32/137_2.png) [@Heus-Sueh](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/u/Heus-Sueh)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2024, 5:52pm UTC](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/dotfiles-and-custom-images/596/1 "2024-02-14T17:52:20Z")
What would be the best way to integrate dotfiles and custom images? I’m trying to create a sway image with dotfiles, but the solution I found to deal with this may not be better, I’m dealing with the dotfiles directly in the image instead of having a script that clones a git repository and copies the files to the user’s home on the first boot, what would be the best solution in this case? I thought about using chezmoi together with yafti, but I don’t know if that will work ---
**Author:** ![ethanjli](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/universal-blue.discourse.group/ethanjli/32/479_2.png) [@ethanjli](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/u/ethanjli)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 5:03am UTC](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/dotfiles-and-custom-images/596/2 "2024-02-15T05:03:00Z")
How would you feel about adding a custom justfile command (or, for a more automated experience, a systemd user service running a custom script) which ensures that you have the latest version of your dotfiles, e.g. applied with chezmoi? ---
**Author:** ![fenglengshun](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/universal-blue.discourse.group/fenglengshun/32/367_2.png) [@fenglengshun](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/u/fenglengshun)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 9:04am UTC](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/dotfiles-and-custom-images/596/3 "2024-02-15T09:04:53Z")
I just put mine in [/usr/etc/skel](https://github.com/bayazidbh/ublue-whitesur/tree/live/usr/etc/skel). It’s not always updated though - skel is only copied at user creation, so I still need to periodically copy my files to my repo. The other thing that I’ve been doing is putting my files in my [home-manager](https://github.com/bayazidbh/home-manager) repo, and [using tmpfiles to symlink them](https://github.com/bayazidbh/home-manager/blob/075bcdaeda41579f4ae686db2c79afe9ae97fe74/laptop/files.nix) so that the files in the local repo is always updated and I just need to commit and push them to GH repo. ---
**Author:** ![j0rge](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/universal-blue.discourse.group/j0rge/32/8_2.png) [@j0rge](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/u/j0rge)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 4:04pm UTC](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/dotfiles-and-custom-images/596/4 "2024-02-15T16:04:01Z")
> [@ethanjli](#): > > applied with chezmoi? If someone wanted to do a completely automated chezmoi setup I would ship that by default in Bluefin! It’d be nice to just have this ootb. ---
**Author:** ![Heus-Sueh](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/universal-blue.discourse.group/heus-sueh/32/137_2.png) [@Heus-Sueh](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/u/Heus-Sueh)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 8:08pm UTC](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/dotfiles-and-custom-images/596/5 "2024-02-15T20:08:04Z")
That would be cool and would help a lot ---
**Author:** ![mecattaf](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/universal-blue.discourse.group/mecattaf/32/868_2.png) [@mecattaf](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/u/mecattaf)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 9:22pm UTC](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/dotfiles-and-custom-images/596/6 "2024-02-28T21:22:59Z")
Opened an issue about this in blue-build/modules: > > > Thanks so much for this project! > > \### Context > Creating an automatic .config (…dotfiles) management system with chezmoi can make our lives a lot easier. Most of us already have our dotfiles in a github repo, so this module could make our experience a lot smoother. > > \### Requirements: > We need a bash script that manages dotfiles with chezmoi: > 1) pulls and updates the dotfiles every time the computer is turned on > 2) pushes the changes to git every time the config files are updated (in ~/.config/chezmoi/chezmoi.toml set autoCommit and autoPush) > And a systemd service to do this automatically > > (LLM-generated skeleton) > \- chezmoi-auto.service: > \`\`\` > \[Unit\] > Description=Automatically update dotfiles with chezmoi > After=network-online.target > > \[Service\] > Type=oneshot > ExecStart=/path/to/your/script/chezmoi-auto.sh > > \[Install\] > WantedBy=multi-user.target > \`\`\` > > \- chezmoi-auto.sh > \`\`\` > \#!/usr/bin/env bash > > \# Exit immediately if a command exits with a non-zero status. > set -e > > \# Pull the latest changes for your dotfiles from the source repository. > \# chezmoi update will fetch and apply the latest changes. > chezmoi update > > \# Uncomment the following lines if your chezmoi configuration does not automatically commit and push changes, > \# and you would like this script to do so. Ensure you have configured git credentials correctly for non-interactive use. > \# cd $(chezmoi source-path) > \# git add . > \# git commit -m "Automatic update by chezmoi-auto.sh script" > \# git push > > \# Notification example (optional, for desktop environments that support libnotify) > \# notify-send "Chezmoi Update" "Your dotfiles have been updated successfully." > \`\`\` > > \### Using the module: > Bluebuild users could point this module to their dotfiles with: > \`\`\` > chezmoi: > username: {username} > \`\`\` > Setting up chezmoi the first time (from the docs): > \`\`\` > chezmoi's install script can run chezmoi init for you by passing extra arguments to the newly installed chezmoi binary. If your dotfiles repo is github.com/$GITHUB\_USERNAME/dotfiles then installing chezmoi, running chezmoi init, and running chezmoi apply can be done in a single line of shell: > $ sh -c "$(curl -fsLS get.chezmoi.io)" -- init --apply $GITHUB\_USERNAME > If your dotfiles repo has a different name to dotfiles, or if you host your dotfiles on a different service, then see the reference manual for chezmoi init. > For setting up transitory environments (e.g. short-lived Linux containers) you can install chezmoi, install your dotfiles, and then remove all traces of chezmoi, including the source directory and chezmoi's configuration directory, with a single command: > $ sh -c "$(curl -fsLS get.chezmoi.io)" -- init --one-shot $GITHUB\_USERNAME > \`\`\` > > \### Relevant Chezmoi docs: > \- \[Concepts\](https://www.chezmoi.io/reference/concepts) > \- \[Daily Operations Guide\](https://www.chezmoi.io/user-guide/daily-operations/) > > > Idea from \[ublue forums\](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/dotfiles-and-custom-images/596) ---
**Author:** ![exponentactivity](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/universal-blue.discourse.group/exponentactivity/32/1476_2.png) [@exponentactivity](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/u/exponentactivity)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/dotfiles-and-custom-images/596/7 "2024-04-30T20:14:57Z")
Please check out this [pull request](https://github.com/blue-build/modules/pull/215) for this feature. ---
**Author:** ![visnu\_Deva](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/universal-blue.discourse.group/visnu_deva/32/1779_2.png) [@visnu\_Deva](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/u/visnu_Deva)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2024, 9:39am UTC](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/dotfiles-and-custom-images/596/8 "2024-11-16T09:39:22Z")
How do you deal with the dotfiles directly in the image ? i am having difficutly doing that, it seems it doesn’t want to go to .config, can you share something please. ---
**Author:** ![tulilirockz](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/universal-blue.discourse.group/tulilirockz/32/6812_2.png) [@tulilirockz](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/u/tulilirockz)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2024, 5:30pm UTC](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/dotfiles-and-custom-images/596/9 "2024-11-16T17:30:06Z")
Would this still be interesting? Bluebuild’s implementation seems pretty nice, I could port it over to Bluefin quite easily following their steps. I personally dont know if it would be super cool to mess around with people’s $HOMEs tho… ---
**Author:** ![tulilirockz](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/universal-blue.discourse.group/tulilirockz/32/6812_2.png) [@tulilirockz](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/u/tulilirockz)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2024, 5:30pm UTC](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/dotfiles-and-custom-images/596/10 "2024-11-16T17:30:55Z")
If you are using BlueBuild just use their module, otherwise it is kind of a complicated implementation to figure out if you havent done something like that already ---
**Author:** ![visnu\_Deva](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/universal-blue.discourse.group/visnu_deva/32/1779_2.png) [@visnu\_Deva](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/u/visnu_Deva)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2024, 7:53pm UTC](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/dotfiles-and-custom-images/596/11 "2024-11-16T19:53:24Z")
Yes I am using bluebuild, can you be more specific please because I tried to set it up in their recipe file if it is what you mean and also I tried with a script but I don’t get the result I want which is simply to copy my dotfiles into the .config folder but I can copy them elsewhere for some reason which may not be very useful. ---
**Author:** ![lorduskordus](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/universal-blue.discourse.group/lorduskordus/32/267_2.png) [@lorduskordus](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/u/lorduskordus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2024, 9:18pm UTC](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/dotfiles-and-custom-images/596/12 "2024-11-16T21:18:56Z")
Stuff you put into /etc/skel gets copied to a new user’s $HOME automatically. Put your dotfiles in there ---
**Author:** ![visnu\_Deva](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/universal-blue.discourse.group/visnu_deva/32/1779_2.png) [@visnu\_Deva](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/u/visnu_Deva)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 5:12am UTC](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/dotfiles-and-custom-images/596/13 "2024-11-17T05:12:17Z")
Thanx for your answer, I will try that. ---
**Author:** ![visnu\_Deva](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/universal-blue.discourse.group/visnu_deva/32/1779_2.png) [@visnu\_Deva](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/u/visnu_Deva)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 12:54pm UTC](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/dotfiles-and-custom-images/596/14 "2024-11-19T12:54:46Z")
I did as you said, put the dotfiles in the etc/skel/.config folder and added the source and destination in the modules of the recipe then created a new user on my laptop and after rebooting all the dotfiles got copied at the right place. Thank you very much !