GNU Stow is used to manage configuration files for my Linux/UNIX tools and applications on all of my personal systems. The term “Dot Files” is
a reference to configuration files for many Linux/UNIX tools that prefix their configuration files with a “.” (in other words a “dot”). I maintain the configuration files in a shared directory (~/Shared/DotFiles) that is replicated across systems using SyncThing. Stow creates a series of symbolic links from the standard and known locations for those configuration files to the actual location of the configuration files in the shared configuration directory.

These instructions in this post serve as a reminder to me on how I use Stow to add new configuration files in the shared configuration folder or to update existing files. Perhaps, this content can be helpful for you too.

TL;DR

Use these commands to link dotfiles using the Stow command:

$ cd ~/Shared/DotFiles
$ stow -v --target=$HOME -S PKG

The PKG parameter is a directory in the ~/Shared/DotFiles directory that contains a collection of related files and directories. For example, I have a series of files for my Bash configuration in the bash directory. To install those, use the following command:

$ cd ~/Shared/DotFiles
$ stow -v --target=$HOME -S bash

Use the same command with each package directory in ~/Shared/DotFiles to install the symbolic links for that package.