Arch Config

Arch Linux dotfiles and system configuration snapshots, split by machine.

master is intentionally just the repository index/bootstrap area. Real configs live on host-specific branches, because display layouts, firmware tools, device rules, and /etc snapshots are not portable enough to mix safely.

Branches

• master - repo map and bootstrap scripts; no machine config.
• msi-delta-15 - current MSI Delta 15 A5EFK config.
• dell-precision-5510 - old Dell Precision 5510 config/archive branch.

Avoid merging host branches wholesale. Cherry-pick shared improvements when a script or config change is actually portable.

Host Branch Layout

• home/ - files adopted from $HOME; live files in $HOME are symlinks back into this directory.
• system/etc/ - selected /etc snapshots. These are never restored automatically because they need root-level review.
• packages/ - explicit native/AUR package lists for rebuilding the machine.
• system/*.txt - enabled systemd unit snapshots.
• audit/ - notes about hardcoded paths, hardware-specific settings, skipped secrets, and other portability risks.
• scripts/snapshot-home.sh - first-time adoption of selected $HOME paths into home/, replacing the live files with symlinks back to the repo.
• scripts/link-home.sh - recreates user-level symlinks.
• scripts/snapshot-system.sh - refreshes package lists and selected system snapshots.

Bootstrap A New Host Branch

Start from master, create the machine branch, then adopt the current machine's home config and system snapshots:

git switch master
git switch -c dell-precision-5510
./scripts/snapshot-home.sh
./scripts/snapshot-system.sh
git status --short --ignored

snapshot-home.sh moves only the allowlisted paths from $HOME into home/, replaces them with relative symlinks, and adds .gitkeep files to empty directories so Git preserves them. snapshot-system.sh only snapshots selected /etc files, package lists, and enabled systemd units; it does not collect anything from $HOME.

Restore A Host

Checkout the machine branch first:

git switch msi-delta-15
./scripts/link-home.sh

The link script moves existing non-symlink files aside with a timestamped .backup.* suffix before creating symlinks.

System files under system/etc/ are reference snapshots. Review diffs and copy them manually with sudo only when they make sense for the target machine.

Refresh A Host Branch

./scripts/snapshot-system.sh
git status

Review the diff before committing. Runtime state, histories, caches, app databases, and secrets should stay out of the repo.

Never Commit

• SSH private keys, GPG private keys, GitHub CLI auth files, Codex auth state.
• Browser, Electron, VS Code workspace/globalStorage/history, Discord, Claude, dconf, Pulse/WirePlumber state, Gradle caches, Go telemetry.
• Shell/editor histories and generated status files.

The .gitignore on host branches is intentionally conservative. If something looks like state rather than config, leave it out.