dotfiles

Clone to existing home directory

• git clone https://github.com/enerqi/dotfiles.git tempdir; mv tempdir/.git ~; rm -rf temp-dir; cd ~; git checkout .

ZSH Setup

With these dotfiles

• Install zsh with your package manager
• Install zgenom zsh plugin manager from Git:

git clone https://github.com/jandamm/zgenom.git "${HOME}/.zgenom"

• Install starship shell prompt tool (see cargo commands below)
• Install zoxide i.e.

curl -sS https://webinstall.dev/zoxide | bash

• Install carapace cross-shell completion library

echo "deb [trusted=yes] https://apt.fury.io/rsteube/ /" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/fury.list
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install carapace-bin

• Optional suggested other binaries include ripgrep - rg and fd-find - fd. All buildable with cargo install ... (and often available with cargo binstall ...).

Then add local machine specific definitions as desired:

.zshrc.local
.profile  (graphical login environment variables - X11 only, see below)
.xinitrc/.xsession (running graphical programs)
.zprofile.local (login shells - rarely needed)

• .zprofile / ~/.zprofile.local shouldn't change the key bindings, aliases, functions or shell options but could set the PATH for non-interactive or login commandline programs.

~/.profile is X11-only, and that matters on Wayland. Under GDM+Xorg, /etc/X11/Xsession sourced ~/.profile, so i3 and every child inherited whatever it exported - which is how $HOME/bin and $HOME/.local/bin used to reach everything. gdm-wayland-session does not do this: it runs the compositor directly as a PAM session child, so the environment is only what pam_env sets from /etc/environment. And zsh never reads ~/.profile in any case - it has its own chain (.zshenv -> .zprofile (login) -> .zshrc).

Consequence under sway: ~/.profile sets nothing for anyone. PATH additions must go in .zprofile (this repo puts $HOME/bin and $HOME/.local/bin there; .zshenv sources it for non-login shells too, so every zsh gets them). Symptom when this is wrong: .zshrc dies with command not found: zoxide and z/zi never get defined - which looks like a plugin problem but is not.

~/.config/environment.d/*.conf does not help here either: it is read by systemd --user, and sway runs in session-N.scope, not under user@1000.service. For programs sway launches directly (not via a shell) use an absolute path in the sway config - see DESKTOP.md.

• .xinitrc (startx) / .xsession (xdm) run window manager independent programs after graphical login. X11 only; nothing sources them under Wayland.

NuShell Setup

• set XDG_CONFIG_HOME if on Windows to C:/Users/<you>/.config

WezTerm Terminal Setup

• install wezterm (recent nightly as of early 2026 for best experience)
• install nerd fonts by tweaking/running ~/bin/fetch-fonts.sh
  • optional for some things as wezterm bundles nerd fonts, but that script includes many fonts
  • fc-list to check font names used in .config/i3/config and .config/alacritty/alacritty.toml or with wezterm wezterm ls-fonts --list-system

Desktop / Window Manager

Sway (Wayland) on Ubuntu 26.04, which offers it as a session alongside GNOME. Full detail and the reasoning behind each choice: DESKTOP.md. Keyboard reference: KEYMAP.md.

apt install sway swayidle swaybg swaylock foot fuzzel waybar dunst \
            wl-clipboard grim slurp udiskie wlogout gsimplecal \
            brightnessctl playerctl pulseaudio-utils kanshi
cargo install --force yazi-build   # file manager; DESKTOP.md says why not `cargo install yazi-fm`

That is the minimum for the keybindings to all work; DESKTOP.md has the full list, including the pickers' extras (cliphist, blueman, qalc, wf-recorder, wlsunset, hyprpicker, wtype).

Log out and pick Sway on the login screen. Nothing in ~/.config/autostart/ runs in this session, so anything that must start with it needs an exec line in ~/.config/sway/config.

Super+Backspace	command palette - everything is reachable from here, the rest are accelerators
Super+G	terminal (wezterm)
Super+d	app launcher
Super+Shift+e	file manager (yazi)
Super+Shift+x	power menu

What is where:

path
~/.config/sway/config	the window manager, and every exec that starts with the session
~/.config/waybar/	the bar: config.jsonc is structure, style.css is appearance
~/bin/fuzzel-*	the palette and its pickers - Wi-Fi, audio, VPN, clipboard, screenshots
~/bin/waybar-*	the bar modules that are not native - docker, VPN, DND, apt, keyboard
~/bin/sway-*	lock, keybinding help, night light, outputs

Two things worth knowing before editing any of it:

• default_border and gaps apply to newly created windows and workspaces. A swaymsg reload looks like it did nothing; a fresh login is correct.
• ~/.config/i3status-rust/ and the commented bar {} block in the sway config are the rollback to swaybar. They are kept on purpose and nothing reads them.

Assorted Development Tools

Some mentioned above and below.

• apt install git zsh build-essential libsensors-dev libssl-dev cmake clang pkg-config postgresql-client golang
  • git config --global credential.helper cache
  • separately install any .ssh keys from secret repository
• apt install openvpn feh fonts-font-awesome
• LLVM install script for Apt
• libs for compiling more things e.g apt install libsdl2-dev libpulse-dev libnotmuch_dev libssl-dev libpipewire-0.3-dev
• gsimplecal
• mise for python/node etc. version management on Linux
  • mise use -g node@lts etc.
• fzf fuzzy finder from git or os packages
• sublime text / sublime merge apt packages
• docker binaries - apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin
  • permission issue (sudo usermod -aG docker $USER etc.)
  • apt install python3-setuptools if missing distutils problem with docker compose commands
• rustup
  • cargo install cargo-binstall
  • cargo binstall -y starship + zoxide + bat
• install some sync service, e.g. tresorit
• firefox sync for custom settings and extensions
• chrome plus ublock origin extension for commonly used browser dev tools

Sublime Text Setup

With a fresh sublime install

• install package control from the sublime command pallette

After that we are going back to (manually) using a sync service (e.g. Dropbox, Tresorit, One Drive etc.) as the formerly useful SyncSettings sublime package is (currently in 2024) unmaintained and not working.

Sync %USERPROFILE%/AppData/Roaming/Roaming/Sublime Text/Packages/User (windows) to another machine. E.g. on Linux:

cd ~
ln -s ~/.config/sublime-text/Packages/User sublime-user-packages

Delete/move existing files and then you can sync into ~/sublime-user-packages (e.g. "selective sync" tresor in tresorit to that dir).

Might need to hard link (e.g. mklink /H) "Default (Windows).sublime-keymap" to "Default (Linux).sublime-keymap"