# cowboy/dotfiles

My Ubuntu / OS X dotfiles.

Repository: https://github.com/cowboy/dotfiles
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/cowboy-dotfiles
Language: Shell
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2021-09-17T03:43:02+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5369, "days_push": 1811, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1608, forks 470 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:10.658661+00:00)

## What it is
A personal dotfiles management tool by Ben Alman that bootstraps Ubuntu and macOS machines with a single command. It clones the repo, copies and symlinks config files into the home directory, and runs OS-appropriate init scripts to install common tools.

## Use cases
- bootstrap a new mac or ubuntu machine with my shell setup
- manage bashrc and shell configs across multiple machines
- symlink dotfiles from a git repo into my home directory
- keep dotfiles in sync between computers
- automate installing my usual tools on a fresh system
- back up existing config files before overwriting them

## When to choose
- you use bash on Ubuntu or macOS and want a simple, script-based dotfiles setup
- you want a single command to bootstrap and re-sync a machine
- you prefer copy/symlink/init conventions over a framework

## When to avoid
- you use zsh/fish or Windows as your primary environment
- you want a actively developed tool with recent releases
- you need a declarative or cross-platform dotfiles manager like chezmoi or nix

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: maintenance
- function: developer-tools, configuration-management, cli, file-system
- domain: developer-tools, operating-systems
- platform: cli
- tags: dotfiles, bash, system-bootstrap, symlink-management, shell-configuration, command-line, automation, linux, macos, shell

## Member repositories
- cowboy/dotfiles (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:10.658661+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:51:21.168340+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/cowboy/dotfiles (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:10.658661+00:00, sha 5614dd283044)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.