Advice for managing chezmoi data?

[kartikynwa]

I have just started migrating my dotfiles repository from disastrous hack job to chezmoi. I am currently experimenting with templating and it looks like something that would have helped me a lot in the past.

Now I am trying to figure out what the best way to keep track of chezmoi data would be. My use case as of now is very simple. An example is the names of Xrander sinks. In .chezmoidata.yaml, I have:

i3:
  laptop_monitor: DP-0
  external_monitor: DP-2

This file is committed to the repository.

If I have to change these values on my work laptop, I can create ~/.config/chezmoi/chezmoi.yaml and change the values there.

Is there a better way than this?

My main concern is that if I am setting up a new machine, I don't want to have to figure out which data values to provide by either reading through the templates or via trial-and-error.

Keeping this in mind, I can commit .chezmoidata.yaml to the repository as long as it does not have sensitive information, then I can use this as a reference to populate the data field in the chezmoi config file.

If I am making a mistake somewhere or if you can suggest any improvements, feel free to let me know.

[twpayne]

As a rough guideline:

• ~/.config/chezmoi/chezmoi.yaml is for data which is specific to the current machine.
• ~/.local/share/chezmoi/.chezmoidata.yaml is for data which is shared across all of your machines.

Personally, use a configuration file template to generate my machine-specific configuration file.

[danielo515]

Yes, that's quite clear. I don't know how I didn't saw it earlier.
Thanks

[kartikynwa]

Finally managed to figure out a decent way to configure looking at your dotfiles for inspiration: https://github.com/kartikynwa/dotfiles/blob/main/dotfiles/dot_config/chezmoi/chezmoi.toml.tmpl

Thanks very much.

[twpayne]

Great! Would you mind marking this as the answer?

[kartikynwa]

I think for "General" type discussions GitHub does not allow picking an answer.

[twpayne]

Thanks, I've moved it to Q&A now.