Arch Linux

b42

Member

Registered: 2023-07-20

Posts: 160

How to source rc files from a different dir than home?

Hi all,

How can I source my various dotfiles like .zshrc .vimrc and others from another directory than home? Lets say I want to organize everything and put them to .config

Raynman

Member

Registered: 2011-10-22

Posts: 1,539

Re: How to source rc files from a different dir than home?

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/XDG_Base_Directory

espritlibre

Member

Registered: 2022-12-15

Posts: 132

Re: How to source rc files from a different dir than home?

for zsh related files you can use:
/etc/zsh/zshenv

export ZDOTDIR=$HOME/.config/zsh

b42

Member

Registered: 2023-07-20

Posts: 160

Re: How to source rc files from a different dir than home?

for zsh related files you can use:
/etc/zsh/zshenv

export ZDOTDIR=$HOME/.config/zsh

Okay I tried it on my VM and it works, but when I try it on my main machine it does not, it does not matter if I use rsync or cp even as a root user I get:

cannot stat 'zshenv' : Permission denied

why cannot I copy it to etc folder even though I am root or a user with sudo?

b42

Member

Registered: 2023-07-20

Posts: 160

Re: How to source rc files from a different dir than home?

for zsh related files you can use:
/etc/zsh/zshenv

export ZDOTDIR=$HOME/.config/zsh

can I source vim bash and others in the same manner?

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 30,108

Website

Re: How to source rc files from a different dir than home?

If by "same manner" you mean reading the link you were provided with so you can learn how, then yes.

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"UNIX is simple and coherent" - Dennis Ritchie; "GNU's Not Unix" - Richard Stallman

b42

Member

Registered: 2023-07-20

Posts: 160

Re: How to source rc files from a different dir than home?

If by "same manner" you mean reading the link you were provided with so you can learn how, then yes.

No I meant zshenv file.

How for example I do it with vim? I have read it but could not understand exactly how I should do that.

b42

Member

Registered: 2023-07-20

Posts: 160

Re: How to source rc files from a different dir than home?

any help on this matter?

2ManyDogs

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2012-01-15

Posts: 4,645

Re: How to source rc files from a different dir than home?

any help on this matter?

Don't do that. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Genera … es#Bumping

What have you tried? Have you read the link you were given in post #2?