Show HN: fresh - a tool to manage and distribute dot files (think Bundler)

I'm amazed at the number of projects that don't have even the simplest description as to what problem the software purports to solve. This well-intentioned project strikes me as among the more egregious examples.<p>The README contains almost zero information as to why the project was created, which problems it aims to rectify, and why you might want to use it. That this information may or may not be contained in an embedded video is of no relevance to someone (like myself) who has neither the time nor ability at this particular moment to watch anything on video that could have been more succinctly explained in 2-3 sentences. It won't be bookmarked or favorited for later perusal -- just ignored.<p>Please understand I mean this as constructively as possible: it's hard to create something and share it with the world, and for that your efforts are most highly commended. I suggest adding a general introduction/description and some use cases to both the project site and README file. That will go a long way toward garnering the attention of those who might otherwise simply shrug and walk away.

If anyone is just looking for a way to manage and sync dotfiles without any of the sharing features (which are interesting but a little scary), you might want to check out my thing: <a href="https://bitbucket.org/davidn/dotstuff" rel="nofollow">https://bitbucket.org/davidn/dotstuff</a>

If you're looking for a mature alternative, there's homesick @ <a href="https://github.com/technicalpickles/homesick" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/technicalpickles/homesick</a>. I use it everywhere and it's great. Unfortunately, it <i>does</i> have a ruby dependency.

Here's my `.freshrc` for examples of how you can use fresh. <a href="https://github.com/twe4ked/dotfiles/blob/master/config/freshrc" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/twe4ked/dotfiles/blob/master/config/fresh...</a>

Looking forward to hearing what HN thinks of fresh. We've already got a bunch more features planned. <a href="http://github.com/freshshell/fresh/issues" rel="nofollow">http://github.com/freshshell/fresh/issues</a>

Interesting, but I think I'll stick with my own system[1]. I organize by task, not repo or program. Also I try to do a minimum of symlinking, instead relying on convention and PATH manipulation.<p>Edit: I don't mean to discourage you, by the way. The more variety in dotfile management the better.<p>[1]: <a href="http://bugsplat.info/2012-08-11-task-oriented-dotfiles.html" rel="nofollow">http://bugsplat.info/2012-08-11-task-oriented-dotfiles.html</a>

Whats to stop malicious git repos changing an alias after you have already added it to your freshrc? I think locking to a specific git ref needs to be top priority.