I started using *nix and programming in the early nineties. There were no helpers around, so I manually learned to do everything by hand. Same with HTML, or anything else on the Internet¹.

Up until this weekend, I was using bash with profile lines dating back close to 30 years². My .bash_profile was a hot mess of stuff that I didn’t understand.

Now that I’ve updated them all, I want to document my config files so future me (and interested others) can understand them.

The files

I’d always hated the distinction between .bashrc and .bash_profile, and had the first just source the second. While switching to zsh, I decided to follow expected patterns.

Now I’m using .zshenv for environment variables, and .zshrc for interactive shells. This document will also cover what was in .exrc, as this was the first file I setup on any *nix system³.

To start with, I’m using Oh My Zsh because it makes zsh configuration easy and powerful.

.zshenv

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export LC_TYPE=en_US.UTF-8
export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
export GOPATH=$HOME/.go
export LESS=-eqFXMwn4

• lines 1-2 tell programs to use english utf-8 encoding

• line 3 tells the go tools to use a hidden directory. Default is to make a directory ~/go which I do not want cluttering up my home

• line 4 sets options for LESS:

  e	automatically when read EOF for second time (so space at EOF will exit)
  q	minimize ringing of the terminal bell
  F	scroll forward reading additional content (ala tail -f)
  X	disables termcap support, so page-up/down scroll the terminal buffer, not the less buffer
  M	prompt shows file name, location in file, and percent shown so far
  w	highlights first line after scroll to help keep your place
  n	don’t show line numbers
  4	# characters to scroll horizontally

.zshrc

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ZSH_THEME="aussiegeek"

plugins=(git colored-man-pages copydir copyfile dash docker kubectl mvn per-directory-history safe-paste)

# copydir copies path to clipboard
# copyfile copies contents of specified file to clipboard
# safe-paste prevents a paste from actually executing what was pasted so you can always review
# docker, kubectl, mvn all offer autocomplete support

source $ZSH/oh-my-zsh.sh

alias dcurl="curl --unix-socket /var/run/docker.sock"

export CLASSPATH="/usr/local/antlr.jar:$CLASSPATH"
alias antlr4="java -Xmx500M org.antlr.v4.Tool"
alias grun="java -Xmx500M org.antlr.v4.gui.TestRig"

for envenv ('plenv' 'rbenv' 'nodenv' 'swiftenv'); 
  do
    if which $envenv > /dev/null; then eval "$($envenv init -)"; fi
done

# allow docker autocompletion so (docker -it <TAB>) will work
zstyle ':completion:*:*:docker:*' option-stacking yes
zstyle ':completion:*:*:docker-*:*' option-stacking yes

• line 1: the theme I picked

• line 3: the plugins I’m using. There is a performance penalty at plugin load time, but I’m fine with the delay from these on my iMac.

  git	Using to show the branch I’m on. No plan to use the aliases.
  colored-man-pages	makes man pages much easier to read
  copydir	alias to copy pwd to the clipboard
  copyfile	alias to copy specified file contents to clipboard
  dash	Lets me query Dash from the command line e.g. dash swift:string
  docker	forget the aliases, autocomplete for image/container names makes all these changes worthwhile
  kubectl	same rational as docker, especially since there are so many subcommands
  mvn	once again, autocompletion for java development
  per-directory-history	I rarely need autocomplete outside the directory I used it in
  safe-paste	when you paste to the command line, the command will not execute always giving you the chance to edit it

• line 10: include Oh My Zsh

• line 12: I’ve spent a lot of time testing rest calls to the docker API, and this is how to do it

• lines 14-16: enable use of ANTLR code generation

• lines 18-21: I use tool wrappers to manage what version of the runtime environment I’m using. If installed, Perl, Ruby, Node/JavaScript, and Swift the ability to specify exactly what version to use. I wouldn’t develop in any of these languages without this.

• lines 23-25: required so docker plugin will autocomplete argument values and container/image names