What is GNU Stow?
GNU Stow is a lightweight tool for managing dotfiles through symlinks. Instead of complex installation scripts, Stow lets you organize dotfiles in packages (directories) and symlinks them to your home directory with a single command. The concept is simple: create a directory structure that mirrors where files should go, then run `stow` to create symlinks. For example, `stow vim` symlinks everything in your `vim` folder to the right places. Unstowing removes the symlinks cleanly. For developers who want dotfile management without learning a new tool, Stow is perfect. It's been around since 1993, is rock-solid, and is available in every package manager. The learning curve is minutes, not hours.
Pros
- Dead simple concept
- Been around forever
- Zero configuration
- Available everywhere
- Works with any files
- Reversible with unstow
Cons
- No secrets handling
- No templating
- Manual package organization