Links

Two things turn out to be the same thing.

oh-my-tmux installs by symlinking. Clone gpakosz/.tmux, then point ~/.tmux.conf at the copy inside it. That is its documented install.

A config that lives in a subdirectory of a repository — a neovim config inside a dotfiles repo — cannot be a repo on its own, because a repo clones whole. Clone it somewhere, link the subdirectory into place, and it works, keeps its history, and sync pulls it like anything else.

repos:
  - url: https://github.com/gpakosz/.tmux
    dest: "{{ home }}/.tmux"
  - url: https://github.com/you/dotfiles
    dest: "{{ home }}/.local/share/bedouin/dotfiles"

links:
  - src: "{{ home }}/.tmux/.tmux.conf"           # what the link points AT
    dest: "{{ home }}/.tmux.conf"                # where the link lives

  - src: "{{ home }}/.local/share/bedouin/dotfiles/config/nvim"
    dest: "{{ home }}/.config/nvim"

src and dest read the same way as in files:: dest is the thing Bedouin creates.

It never clobbers

At dest	What happens
nothing	the link is created
a link Bedouin made	repointed if src changed
a real file or directory	refused, naming it
someone else’s symlink	refused, naming it
dropped from the config	the link is removed — never what it pointed at

Move it aside yourself

Bedouin will not replace something at dest that it did not create. files: takes a backup because it renders a file it owns; a link points at something that may be irreplaceable, so the answer is to refuse and say so.

Ordering

Links are created after repos, because a link into a repository the same run clones is the normal case. src does not have to exist yet — a dangling link is reported by doctor, not treated as a reason to fail an apply.