Many thanks to @rjuju for sharing its .vimrc with me. I was completely lost at first, and it gave me just the amount of frustration I needed to became obsessed with understanding it and making it my own. And in the process of doing so (I'm really not finished, and will likely never be), I ended dropping my whole system configuration and starting it all over. Again, thank you.

Index

Here is the main configuration files locations:

• editor
  • .vimrc file
• terminal
  • termite config file
  • .tmux.conf file
• shell
  • .inputrc file
  • .bash_profile file
  • .bashrc file
  • bash aliases configuration file
  • bash man configuration file
  • bash path configuration file
  • bash prompt configuration file
  • env variables configuration file
  • lc_language configuration file
  • postgres_manage configuration file
• systemd
  • autologin unit file
• x
  • .xinitrc file
• window manager
  • i3 configuration file
  • i3blocks configuration file
  • rofi configuration file
• theme files
  • badwolf theme files
  • gruvbox_dark_medium theme files
  • papercolor_light theme files

Questions people may ask, frequently or not

What is this?

These are my system configuration files, for my personal use. This configuration is very keyboard oriented, with mostly CLI applications, terminal multiplexing, tiling window manager, Vim-like bindings. There are still many things I need to fix or customize, obviously, so you will find many "FIXME" in there.

I tend to use my configuration files as my notebook when I learn how things work. As most of this knowledge came from what other people shared, I thought it was only right to do the same. Hopefully, this may help you to get some ideas or solve a configuration problem. And maybe that some of you will give me feedback, helping me to improve my configuration and learn about new and cooler things (or feel silly for missing something basic).

How do I install it?

You don't.

This is not a functionnal piece of software, and there will be no stable release. Anything may change at any time without any warning, and there will be breaking changes as I may decide to drop any software altogether. There is no guarantee that it will work at all with your environment, and if it doesn't I will not fix it if it works for me. In fact, if you just clone it and run it using Ansible without understanding what it does, this will most probably destroy several of your own configuration files.

So, seriously: don't install it! Just grab anything you want and make it your own, and leave out what you don't want, like or understand.

What version of "software name" is compatible with your configuration file?

Usually, the latest available on the Linux distribution I'm using (currently Arch Linux). I don't bother to test compatibily with previous versions, and use the newest features I'm aware of (if I understand them).

Why is this licensed under (CC BY 4.0)?

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

As I wrote previously, this is no software. There is no source code, only configuration files, a few shell scripts, and too many comments. These files are completely and utterly useless without the software they configure. So I consider them to be content, like a wiki, and chose a (free) license accordingly.

How can I contribute?

If you want to, you can contribute by raising issues, asking questions about things you don't understand, or suggesting changes.

Feature requests and pull requests are welcome, but I will probably not include anything very sophisticated, at least not without rewritting it completely: that's how I understand and learn things. My environment may not be (compositing|responsive|plug and play|blue|mouse friendly|.*), but it will be the sexiest... as long as I can understand it.

Configuration sections, tips, cheatsheet, survival kit

Now, let's see what configuration sections I have at this point.

I will try to include resources to install the applications I use, and various tips the key combos I frequently use. Many of them are custom ones, sometimes requiring the addition of a plugin or a custom script to work.

They are inspired from Vim bindings when relevant (like movements, splits), and optimized for an AZERTY fr keyboard layout (sorry, that's what I use, but I really tried not to do bindings like M-A à or C-€).

systemd

For now, the only configuration file is used to deploy an unit file used to autologin.

WARNING: This configuration is only safe for me because my disks are encrypted, so my passphrase is asked at boot time. Do not use it blindly.

x

This is my xinit (very basic for now) configuration. I'm the sole user of my computers, so I don't really have a need for a display manager, or even a login prompt.

shell

This is mostly my bash configuration. I started looking at zsh, but I'm not there yet.

I have a few customizations here, but not much. First, I'm using bash vi mode, which allows me to switch between Insert mode (the default one, similar to Vim's Insert mode) and Command mode (similar to Vim's Normal mode, and not the Command mode as the name may suggest). To avoid being lost in modes, both the prompt and cursor shape change between modes.

I won't list keys that work like in Vim Normal mode (h goes one character left, l one character right, w one word right, A puts you to the end of line and into Insert mode, etc.). Just some keys that act differently, or that I customized.

keys	action
C-n	Insert mode only: auto-completes current command or filename.
jk	Insert mode only: enter Command mode.
k	Command mode only: go to the previous line from history.
j	Command mode only: go to the next line from history.
v	Command mode only: open the current command line contents into editor to edit, and executes it when exiting.

FIXME searching history? CTRL-k works, but should I remap it to ? and / FIXME C-p should go back on auto-completion and not parse history

I did set up the usual aliases.

alias	action
l	List files by columns, with file type indicator symbols.
ll	List every file on a different line, with details.
lt	Same, but sorted in reverse modification order instead of file name.
vi	Launch Vim.
view	Launch Vim in read-only mode.

I use postgres_manage to quickly build binaries from any PostgreSQL commit, and manage several instances for testing and debugging purpose. Useful resources:

• https://github.com/rjuju/postgres-manage

alias	action
pgsync	Refreshes both PostgreSQL and postgres_manage's git local directories.
pglslatest	List latest available versions from git repository.
pgls	List created instances.
pg <version>	Select <version> to manage instance. FIXME also instance number / commit?
pgbuild	Build PostgreSQL binaries using selected version.
pgstart	Start selected instance (creates it if not already created).
pgstop	Stop selected instance.
pgslave	Create a hot standby instance using selected instance as a primary.
pgtail	Executes tail -f on the log file of the selected instance.
pgctags	Create tags on the postgresql git directory.

editor

This one is all about Vim, as you may have guess. Here you will mostly find my vimrc template file, and several variables and scripts used to switch themes.

Useful resources (many other links are into the vimrc file):

• https://www.vim.org/
• http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Vim_Tips_Wiki
• http://stevelosh.com/
• https://github.com/tpope/vim-unimpaired

Vim has way too many useful key combos to list here. First, the following default keys are disabled for the purpose of training myself not to use them.

disabled keys
arrow movements
ESC (Insert mode)

Then, I'll put here what I frequently use and is not part of default Vim maps.

keys	action	plugin
Space	Remap of the leader key (default to \\).
Space-Space	Save the current file if it has been modified.
Space-n Space-p	Switch to the [n]ext or [p]revious buffer.
Space-b	Flip-flop between currently and previously active buffers.
Space-X	Close the current buffer.
jk	Insert mode: go back to Normal mode.
C-p C-f	Open CtrlP menu on files search mode.	CtrlP
C-p C-m	Open CtrlP menu on most recently used files mode.	CtrlP
C-p C-b	Open CtrlP menu on buffers mode.	CtrlP
C-p C-t	Open CtrlP menu on tags mode.	CtrlP
F2	Toggle Insert Paste mode.
F3	Toggle location list (errors).	syntastic/airline
F4	Toggle TagBar menu list.	TagBar
F5	Toggle Gundo windows to manage Vim's undo history.	Gundo

FIXME Space-w: window mode FIXME window mode: allow window resize, movement and position change FIXME CtrlP mode FIXME add vim-unimpaired maps

And finally, this is my own cheatsheet for all these very useful default maps I try to remember.

keys	action
F1	Open Vim help on a split on top of the current window.
C-r +	Insert mode: paste using system clipboard FIXME which one?
C-r *	Insert mode: paste using system clipboard FIXME which one?

FIXME useful registers list + *

FIXME macros?

FIXME search into code?

terminal

I mostly use termite and tmux. Tmux bindings are heavily modified for a better integration with both Vim and i3. Useful resources:

• https://github.com/thestinger/termite
• https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki
• https://www.hamvocke.com/blog/a-quick-and-easy-guide-to-tmux/

The key bindings I use are tmux commands with different bindings.

keys	action
M-a	New prefix (default one is C-b).
M-a c M-a C	Open new window (C use current working directory).
M-a s M-a S	Split current window in two panes, the new one below to the current one (S use current working directory).
M-a v M-a V	Split current window in two panes, the new one right to the current one (V use current working directory).
M-a a	Enter Copy mode (move using Vim movements, copy to system clipboard.
M-a p	Paste from system clipboard
M-a M-s	Synchronize panes for current window.
M-a F1	Open a new pane running htop below the current one.
M-a /	Ask for a string, and open a new pane running man <string> below the current one.

wm

Apart from Vim configuration, this is most complicated part. Here there are several applications I use:

• i3 window manager.
• i3blocks: add customizable blocks into the i3 statusbar.
• rofi: used as a dmenu replacement, and for several other things like theme or monitor layout switch.
• dunst: notification daemon.
• select-monitor-layout: use mons and rofi to switch between monitor layouts.
• unified-theme-selector: use rofi to swith simulaneously swith theme for several applications (i3, Vim, termite, tmux, etc.).

Useful resources (many other links are into the configuration files):

• https://i3wm.org/
• https://github.com/vivien/i3blocks/wiki
• https://github.com/DaveDavenport/rofi

These are some of my i3 bindings.

keys	action
Super	aka mod4 or the <win> key, used as the modifier key to be combined with other keys.
Super-$	Open the switch theme menu.
Super-F1	Open the switch monitor layout menu.
Super-d	Open menu to launch applications.
Super-n Super-p	Move to [n]ext and [p] previous workspaces.
Super-[0-9]	Move to the selected number's workspace (0 gives you the workspace 10).
Super-[hjkl]	Move between panes using Vim directions.
Super-t Super-T	Switch between "tabbed" (t) and "stacked" (T) panes when not tiled.
Super-e	Toggle right-left or up-down split (and return to tiled mode when tabbed or stacked).