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README.md

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+Dotbot
+======
+
+Dotbot is a tool that bootstraps your dotfiles (it's a [Dot]files
+[bo]o[t]strapper, get it?). It does *less* than you think, because version
+control systems do more than you think.
+
+Dotbot is designed to be lightweight and self-contained, with no external
+dependencies and no installation required. Dotbot is easy to set up, and it's
+easy to configure.
+
+Dotbot is VCS-agnostic, and it doesn't make any attempt to manage your
+dotfiles. Existing version control systems like git are pretty awesome at
+doing this.
+
+Dotbot can be a drop-in replacement for any other tool you were using to manage
+your dotfiles.
+
+Dotfiles Organization
+---------------------
+
+A great way to organize your dotfiles is having all of them in a single
+(isolated) git repository and symlinking files into place. You can add plugins
+and stuff using git submodules. This whole symlinking business can be a bit of
+trouble, but it's much better than just having your entire home directory under
+source control, and Dotbot lets you have a one-click install process, so you
+can have all the benefits of isolation without the annoyance of having to
+manually copy or link files.
+
+Dotbot itself is entirely self contained and requires no installation, so it's
+not necessary to install any software before you provision a new machine! All
+you have to do is download your dotfiles and then run `./install`.
+
+Template
+--------
+
+To make life easier, you can fork the [template repository][1]. If you want,
+you can rename it afterwards (to something like just `dotfiles`). If you're
+looking for inspiration, the template repository contains links to dotfiles
+repositories that use Dotbot.
+
+If you prefer, instead of reading about how Dotbot works, you could refer to
+the code in the template repository and get a feel for how to set things up,
+learning by example.
+
+
+Setup
+-----
+
+Dotbot is super easy to set up. This description is given in terms of git and
+git submodules, but the procedure is similar for other VCSs.
+
+You can add Dotbot to your dotfiles by running
+`git submodule add https://github.com/anishathalye/dotbot`
+from within your git repository.
+
+To have a one-click (one-command) install, you can place a bootstrap install
+shell script that calls Dotbot with the appropriate parameters. This script
+simply passes its arguments to Dotbot, so the script itself will not have to be
+updated once it's placed in the proper location (the Dotbot repository can be
+updated independently).
+
+An example bootstrap install shell script is given in
+`tools/git-submodule/install` (and included below). The script assumes that the
+configuration is located in `install.conf.json` and Dotbot is located in
+`dotbot`. The script automatically makes sure that the correct version of
+Dotbot is checked out in the submodule.
+
+Adapting the bootstrap script for different situations (such as using a
+different VCS) is fairly straightforward.
+
+```bash
+#!/bin/bash
+
+CONFIG="install.conf.json"
+DOTBOT_DIR="dotbot"
+
+DOTBOT_BIN="bin/dotbot"
+BASEDIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+
+cd "${BASEDIR}"
+git submodule update --init --recursive ${DOTBOT_DIR}
+
+"${BASEDIR}/${DOTBOT_DIR}/${DOTBOT_BIN}" -d "${BASEDIR}" -c "${CONFIG}" $@
+```
+
+Configuration
+-------------
+
+Dotbot uses json-formatted configuration files to let you specify how to set up
+your dotfiles. Currently, Dotbot knows how to `link` files and execute `shell`
+commands. Dotbot executes tasks in the order that they are specified in.
+
+**Ideally, bootstrap configurations should be idempotent. That is, the
+installer should be able to be run multiple times without causing any
+problems.** This makes life easier.
+
+Dotbot configuration files are json arrays of tasks, where each task is a
+dictionary that contains a command name mapping to data for that command. For
+`link`, you specify how files should be linked in a dictionary. For `shell`,
+you specify an array consisting of commands, where each command is an array
+consisting of the shell command as the first element and a description as the
+second.
+
+Dotbot is aware of a base directory (that is specified when running the
+installer), so link targets can be specified relative to that, and shell
+commands will be run in the base directory.
+
+The configuration format is pretty simple, so here's an example to help you get
+started. The convention for configuration file names is `install.conf.json`.
+
+```json
+[
+    {
+        "link": {
+            "~/.tmux.conf": "tmux.conf",
+            "~/.vimrc": "vimrc",
+            "~/.vim": "vim/"
+        }
+    },
+    {
+        "shell": [
+            ["git submodule update --init --recursive", "Installing submodules"]
+        ]
+    }
+]
+```
+
+[1]: https://github.com/anishathalye/dotfiles_template