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What is the optimal pattern for managing multi-machine configs (Desktop vs. Laptop) in a unified setup? #1795

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@mylinuxforwork

Discussed in #1793

Originally posted by H7ioo August 15, 2026
Hi everyone,

I am managing my dotfiles across two primary systems (a desktop PC and a laptop). While most of my environment is shared, a subset of configurations inevitably diverges per host (e.g., monitor layouts, display scaling, power profiles, host-specific keybinds).

Tools like chezmoi offer templating (.tmpl) and ignore rules (.chezmoiignore), but they create friction with ML4W. Because ML4W already symlinks dotfiles, I can only track custom configs, yet upstream updates continuously reset pointer files (e.g., keybinding.lua) back to default.lua, breaking custom keybinds and forcing manual fixes.

For those running a unified dotfiles setup across multiple machines, I'd love to hear how you structure your repositories and what trade-offs you've encountered with each approach.

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