terminal

##the_problem

Keeping the same terminal configuration on two machines with different operating systems (Windows 11 and Fedora KDE Plasma) without copying files by hand and without versioning a secret.

##what_it_does

• Synchronises the prompt theme, a startup snippet for both Bash and PowerShell, and the Nerd Font.
• A Makefile detects the operating system and calls the right setup script, so the same commands work on both systems.
• Assisted migration: if an older loose configuration already exists in the real file, setup shows the lines and asks before migrating. Declining aborts without touching anything.

##stack

##how_it_was_built

No complete shell profile is ever versioned. Those hold PATH entries, version-manager hooks and machine-specific settings. The repository keeps only the prompt snippet, and setup appends it to the real file inside a delimited block.

The scripts are idempotent: running again duplicates nothing and touches only what changed. The real file is never overwritten: setup rewrites only the block between its markers, and takes a timestamped backup before touching anything.

The theme is installed as a hard link rather than a copy, so editing it in the repository is reflected in the prompt without re-copying. The README explains the condition that makes it work and the fallback for when it does not.

##known_limitations

• Choosing the font in Windows Terminal or Konsole is a click in a GUI, and the README documents it as a manual step rather than pretending to automate it.
• PowerShell 7 only, not 5.1: the two editions point at different profile folders, so the script aborts on the wrong edition rather than writing to a file nobody reads.
• The hard link requires the repository and the home directory to sit on the same volume. When they do not, setup falls back to copying, and the README says so.

##tracked coding time

4 hrs 45 mins Source: WakaTime · tracked 2026-03-17 to current