This public repository provides an example of how I organize my configuration of a Linux machine. The private version has two goals: first, to be able to restore a minimal setup on a new machine, and second, to track why I've made certain changes. Different branches can be used for different machines.

Although it started with just dotfiles, there are now three parts:

1. Debian packages that I personally installed.
2. Dotfiles, managed using stow.
3. GNOME desktop environment configuration.

Folders prefixed with "_" are organizational folders. Other non-hidden folders are dotfiles. Please see the following READMEs:

• Debian packages
• Dotfiles
• GNOME

I haven't found it as necessary to track user-installed RPM packages, as I've found DNF outputs fewer false-positives than the various Debian package managers. Maybe I'll regret this, but for now I'm happy with it.

At the time of writing this there isn't a great way of distinguishing between requested and automatically installed snaps.

I tried making a git hook to track the output of snap changes, but it's annoyingly time sensitive. Maybe snap list would be a better approach, but I don't have enough snaps to really care right now.

From what I've gathered, snaps have their drawbacks. Mainly being proprietary and forcefully auto-updating, with the latter being concerning due to supply-chain attacks. But snaps are sometimes the only easy way to install proprietary software, and the sandboxing is nice. Therefore my preference for installing software is loosely:

Trusted repository package > Flatpak > AppImage > Manually downloaded package > Snap > Building from source

If any of this is silly, tell me why! My primary concerns are ease of maintenance and security.

I'd like to try them some day. It just seems a bit overkill at the moment.