Repas

A blazingly fast CLI tool for managing files and folders with symbolic links to centralize configuration across multiple machines. (or any other type of file if you feel like it)

PLEASE, for god's sake DO NOT run this with sudo
If you know what you're doing and have permission problems, use:

sudo -E repas ...

Otherwise, it will use /root as the intended path — which may seriously mess things up.

Overview

I've got tired of searching for config files all over my big-ass linux. So, I made this to move configuration files to a central location (~/.repas by default). Also, you can restore the files if you ever need to.

Installation

The compiled binary will be available at target/release/repas

Building from Source

Prerequisites

• Rust ^1.87.0
• Unix-like operating system (Linux, macOS) due to symbolic link functionality

git clone https://your-repository/repas.git
cd repas
cargo build --release

Usage

Currently, there are two main operations supported: track and restore.

Tracking Files

The track operation moves files to the central storage location and creates symbolic links in their original locations.

repas track /path/to/file1 /path/to/file2

Example:

repas track ~/.vimrc ~/.bashrc

This will:

1. Create the directory if it doesn't exist ~/.repas
2. Move each file to ~/.repas
3. Create symbolic links in their original locations

Restoring Files

The restore operation moves files back to their original locations, removing the symbolic links

repas restore /path/to/symlink1 /path/to/symlink2

Example:

repas restore ~/.vimrc

This will:

1. Remove the symbolic link
2. Move the actual file back to its original location

Configuration

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
REPAS_TRACK_FOLDER	Custom path for storing files	~/.repas

Features

Smart Path Handling

• Automatic home directory expansion (~ gets expanded to the user's home directory environmental variable)
• Symlink detection to prevent recursive linking

Colored Output

Yes, There are colors, I'm not a monster:

• Yellow: Warnings and directory creation
• Cyan: Tracking operations
• Green: Restore operations
• Red: Error messages

Error Handling

Comprehensive error handling for common scenarios:

• Existing symlinks
• Missing files
• Invalid paths
• Permission issues

Technical Details

Project Structure

repas/
├── src/
│   ├── main.rs         # CLI interface and main logic
│   └── functions/      # Core functionality
│       └── mod.rs      # File operations implementation

Dependencies

• clap (4.5.39): Command-line argument parsing
• colored (3.0.0): Terminal output coloring

Error Messages

When an operation fails, don't blame the program, you get detailed error messages:

Safety Features

• Checks if a file is already a symlink before tracking
• Verifies symlink targets exist before restoration
• Creates a storage directory automatically when needed
• Provides clear warnings for potential issues

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! (and wanted); Here are some ways you can help:

• Adding new features
• Improving documentation
• Reporting bugs (if you can find one)
• Suggesting enhancements

License

Let's fucking go open-source (MIT)

Future Enhancements

Potential features for future versions:

• Batch operations support (like reading from a file)
• Backup functionality
• Cross-platform support (are you on Windows??? switch to linux rn)
• Status command to show tracked files