Computer setup

Scripts to set up a Linux, WSL or Windows machine with my preferred tools. The package lists and personal settings live in YAML files, so one set of lists drives every platform, and a work profile can install a smaller, safer set than the personal one.

Quick start

Linux and WSL

git clone https://github.com/markbac/scripts-computerSetupInfo.git
cd scripts-computerSetupInfo
cp config/config.example.yml config/config.local.yml    # then edit your name and email
Linux/setup.sh --dry-run                                # see what would change
Linux/setup.sh                                          # do it

Linux/setup.sh installs Ansible if it is missing, then runs Linux/ansible/site.yml. It asks for your sudo password only when sudo needs one, and never stores it.

Supported: Ubuntu 24.04 (the package names were checked against it), and Debian or other Ubuntu releases where the same packages exist. WSL is detected automatically.

Windows

Open a normal (not elevated) PowerShell window:

git clone https://github.com/markbac/scripts-computerSetupInfo.git
cd scripts-computerSetupInfo
Copy-Item config\config.example.yml config\config.local.yml    # then edit your name and email
.\Windows\setup.ps1 -DryRun
.\Windows\setup.ps1

It installs Scoop packages as your user, then asks for administrator rights only for the Chocolatey and winget part, because Scoop refuses to install as administrator. Windows\setup.bat starts the same script from a command prompt or a double-click.

Note: If PowerShell blocks the script, run it with powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\Windows\setup.ps1, or use Windows\setup.bat, which does this for you. A managed work machine may forbid this.

Profiles

Every package list has two tiers.

Profile	Installs
work (default)	the base lists only: tools that are fine on a managed machine
personal	base plus the personal lists: games, toys, extra apps

Choose in config/config.local.yml (profile: personal) or for a single run:

Linux/setup.sh --profile personal

.\Windows\setup.ps1 -Profile personal

The full list for each profile is in docs/packages.md.

Configuration

File	Purpose
config/config.example.yml	Defaults: profile, git name and email, SSH key and apt upgrade switches. Committed.
config/config.local.yml	Your copy, git-ignored. Overrides the example key by key.
config/packages.yml	Every package, in one file: common (cargo, npm, pipx, VS Code extensions), linux (apt, snap, flatpak, brew, Python libraries, fonts, optional installers) and windows (winget, Scoop, Chocolatey)
config/pins.yml	Pinned versions and SHA-256 checksums for downloaded installers

Each group in packages.yml has a base and a personal list. To add a package, add it to the right list and run python3 docs/generate_packages.py to refresh the table.

Pinned downloads

Anything fetched outside a package manager (nvm, oh-my-zsh, Homebrew's installer, Nerd Fonts, ctop, browsh, pfetch) comes from a pinned version or commit and is checked against a SHA-256 in config/pins.yml before it is used. A mismatch stops that step. Three things are not pinned by checksum because the vendor publishes no fixed file: the rustup download (its checksum is read from the same release), and the Scoop and Chocolatey bootstrap scripts, which are downloaded to a file and then run, never piped into a shell.

Running part of it

Linux sections are Ansible tags: apt, vscode, shell, git, dotfiles, fonts, python, node, rust, wsl, apps, brew, extras.

Linux/setup.sh --tags apt,dotfiles
Linux/setup.sh --dry-run --tags fonts

Windows sections are -Section User (Scoop and the cross-platform tools) and -Section Machine (Chocolatey and winget, needs administrator rights).

Dry runs, logs and failures

• --dry-run (Linux) and -DryRun (Windows) change nothing and report what would be installed.
• Real runs are logged to ~/setup-<date>.log on both platforms.
• A failing step does not stop the others. The failures are listed at the end and the exit code is non-zero.
• Running it again is safe. Installed packages are skipped, and a second run reports changed=0.

What it does besides packages

• Dotfiles. .bashrc, .zshrc, .profile and .p10k.zsh from Linux/config/ are symlinked into your home directory. A regular file already there is kept as <name>.pre-setup. Put settings for one machine in ~/.shellrc.local, which the dotfiles load if it exists.
• Git. Sets user.name and user.email from your config. It can also create an ed25519 SSH key (generate_ssh_key: true), which is off by default because the key has no passphrase.
• WSL. Turns on systemd in /etc/wsl.conf (run wsl --shutdown from Windows afterwards). Windows\setup.ps1 copies Windows/config/.wslconfig to your profile if you do not have one. Snap, Flatpak and fonts are skipped inside WSL because they belong on the Windows side.
• Wave Terminal. Installed from winget on Windows, and from snap on a desktop Linux (skipped inside WSL).

Tests

tests/run.sh

Runs the config checks, shellcheck, yamllint, ansible-lint, an Ansible syntax check, an idempotency test of the dotfile and git sections in a throw-away home directory, and a PowerShell dry run when pwsh and the powershell-yaml module are available. Checks whose tools are missing are skipped with a note. Nothing is installed.

Layout

config/                 settings, package lists and pins (shared by every platform)
Linux/setup.sh          bootstrap: installs Ansible and runs the playbook
Linux/ansible/          site.yml and one task file per section
Linux/config/           dotfiles that get symlinked into your home directory
Windows/setup.ps1       Windows installer (setup.bat is a launcher)
Windows/config/         .wslconfig
docs/                   generated package table and personal notes
tests/                  run.sh and the config validator

More notes, kept for reference, are in docs/notes.md.