Mackup keeps your dotfiles and app settings in sync using Dropbox

If all you want to do is keep your dotfiles and app settings in sync between machines (OS X machines, of course), then Laurent Raufaste’s Mackup might just be the perfect thing for you.

Basically it symlinks the supported applications to copied versions of your dotfiles and app settings to ~/Dropbox/Mackup. For example, once you’ve ran mackup backup your .gitconfig file will live at ~/Dropbox/Mackup/.gitconfig and ~/.gitconfig will be symlinked to it. That way all your precious dotfiles and app settings are synced to Dropbox. When it comes time to get another machine (presumably your next machine) setup, it’s as easy as installing Mackup, and running mackup restore.

Laurent’s notes from the readme:

I change my workstation every X months. Each time I either loose the configuration of all the apps I use, or I just waste a bunch of hours getting setup like I was on my old box. I also spent a lot of time reconfiguring the same stuff again on all my workstations (home, work) Boring…

I agree. There are a number of ways to backup your dotfiles, but Mackup is super simple, doesn’t require sharing them on GitHub (if that’s not your thing), and leverages Dropbox –
which you likely have on your machine anyways.

Check out the install instructions to get started. You might also consider reading this as well to learn exactly how Mackup does what it does. If you haven’t yet, checkout the unofficial guide to dotfiles on GitHub while you’re at it. There’s more than one way to skin this cat.