Added new README file

README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+# dots
+
+My dot files and a tool to deploy them, and the programs that use them, to
+various OS's. Some additional tools that I consider part of my baseline setup
+are also installed and, if possible, configured by dots.
+
+Dots is written in ruby and utilizes bundler to keep all its dependancies
+as self-contained as possible. Installation of programs and management of git
+repositories is handled by way of the
+[Puppet gem](https://rubygems.org/gems/puppet).
+
+Everything about dots assumes you are running it as a normal user, not as root.
+Strange and unexpected things could well happen if you run any part of it as
+root or via sudo.
+
+
+## Initial Setup
+
+```bash
+git clone git@github.com:genebean/dots.git ~/.dotfiles
+cd ~/.dotfiles
+bin/bootstrap.sh
+This script takes care of getting dots ready to use
+Enter the number of the task you want to perform:
+1) Mac setup
+2) EL setup
+3) Quit
+Task:
+```
+
+After you run the setup for your OS you will want to make sure that
+[puppet/production/hieradata/nodes/](puppet/production/hieradata/nodes/)
+contains a file matching the hostname of your machine. That file needs to
+contain at least the following:
+
+```yaml
+---
+homedir: '/Users/johndoe'
+```
+
+Naturally, you will want to adjust the entry to match the real path to your
+home directory. On a Mac this is generally in `/Users/` or `/home/` on Linux.
+
+
+## Running dots
+
+There are primary way to interact with dots is via `bundle exec rake dots`.
+This will run an interactive cli program. Additional tasks are available in the
+dots namespace. You can see all the available tasks via
+`bundle exec rake -T`.
+
+
+## Notes
+
+#### Running Puppet
+
+```bash
+# Any of these will work:
+bundle exec rake dots:run_puppet
+bundle exec rake dots:run_puppet_noop
+bundle exec puppet apply --environmentpath ~/.dotfiles/puppet ~/.dotfiles/puppet/production/manifests/site.pp
+```
+
+
+#### Installed Homebrew packages
+
+To see what has been installed (not the deps) run `brew leaves`
+
+
+## Project structure
+
+* `bin/`: this is where the "application" bits live
+* `bin/bootstrap`: platform specific helpers called by `bin/bootstrap.sh`
+* `copy/`: files directly in this directory are copied to all hosts
+* `copy/mac/`: files in here get copied to Macs
+* `copy/nix/`: files in here get copied to all Posix systems
+* `link/`: files directly in this directory are symlinked on all hosts.
+  * all symlinks are prefixed with a dot. Ex: `link/gemrc` becomes `~/.gemrc`
+* `link/mac/`: files in here get symlinked on all Macs
+* `link/nix/`: files in here get symlinked on all Posix systems
+* `link/ssh/`: these files get symlinked under `~/.ssh/` on all Posix systems
+* `puppet/`: this is basically a control repo modified to suite this setup
+* `puppet/production/`: items from an environment's branch in a control repo
+  * this setup assumes Puppet 4 and Hiera 5. Hiera's config is parsed as part of
+    the environment rather than from a global config file.
+* `spec/`: unit tests go here