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Remove dark-mode-notify, document the native approach

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The launchd agent ran `pkill -usr1 zsh` on every appearance change, which made
every shell re-source .zshrc. That could never have achieved its goal: the tmux
status bar belongs to the tmux server and colours to a running nvim, so
re-sourcing a shell rc cannot retheme either. The one variable it set,
MACOS_APPEARANCE, was read by nothing. Its only real effect was firing on each
unlock — 5253 times on this machine, 3437 on the iMac — which is what drove the
~/.gitconfig.lock contention fixed in 583bbaa.

The agent and plist are removed from both machines; this drops the script.
ghostty, bat, delta and nvim all handle appearance natively, and tmux 3.6+
detects it over OSC 2031 (#{client_theme} already reports correctly). Wiring the
tmux client-light-theme/client-dark-theme hooks is left as the next step.

Also refreshes the stale parts of the README: the intro still explained
~/.gitconfig as a copy because .extra edited it, and the .extra example still
showed the `git config --global` calls that caused the lock errors, plus the
misspelled GIT_COMMITER_* vars. Following it would have reinstated the bug.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Jonny Barnes 2026-08-09 11:37:24 +01:00
commit 59d5622442
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110
README.md
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@ -4,65 +4,83 @@ Here’s my dotfiles, inspired by people like Mathias. See his dotfiles at
[`https://github.com/mathias/dotfiles`](https://github.com/mathias/dotfiles). [`https://github.com/mathias/dotfiles`](https://github.com/mathias/dotfiles).
The idea I’m currently going down is to create a symlink from `$HOME` to this The idea I’m currently going down is to create a symlink from `$HOME` to this
directory. There is one exception to this, the `.gitconfig` file. I don’t want actual commiter details committed into this repo. So my git credentials are directory. There is one exception to this, the `.gitconfig` file. I don’t want
stored in a `.extra` file which gets sourced. This then calls the relavent git actual commiter details committed into this repo, and they differ per machine
command, which causes git to edit `$HOME/.gitconfig`. If that file was a symlink anyway — this Mac signs with my work address, the iMac with my personal one.
to this repo, then the repo would see the file as edited and the repo would then
be in a dirty state, permanently. So identity and signing live in an untracked `$HOME/.gitconfig.local`, which the
tracked `gitconfig` pulls in with an `[include]` as its **last** directive. Last
matters: git applies config in file order, so anything after the include would
override it.
`$HOME/.gitconfig` is copied rather than symlinked, so that an ad-hoc
`git config --global` writes into `$HOME` instead of dirtying this repo. The
trade-off is that `git pull` alone does not update it — re-run `./bootstrap.sh`,
or `cp gitconfig ~/.gitconfig`, after changing the tracked copy.
## Usage ## Usage
First clone the repo. First clone the repo.
As mentioned above my git credentials are stored in an untracked file: Run `./bootstrap.sh`, this will create all the necessary symlinks, then source
`$HOME/.extra`. This must be manually created, mine looks something like:
```
# Git credentials
GIT_AUTHOR_NAME="Jonny Barnes"
GIT_COMMITER_NAME="$GIT_AUTHOR_NAME"
git config --global user.name "$GIT_AUTHOR_NAME"
GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL="jonny@jonnybarnes.uk"
GIT_COMMITER_EMAIL="$GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL"
git config --global user.email "$GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL"
```
Run `./boostrap.sh`, this will create all the necessary symlinks, then source
`.zshrc`. `.zshrc`.
> [!WARNING] > [!WARNING]
> This is a **destructive** process, so backup your dotfiles first. > This is a **destructive** process, so backup your dotfiles first.
## Auto switch between light and dark mode As mentioned above, git identity lives in an untracked `$HOME/.gitconfig.local`.
`bootstrap.sh` seeds it from `gitconfig.local.template` if it does not already
exist, and never overwrites an existing one. Fill it in:
To switch between dark and light mode automatically, we use a helper lib. ```
[user]
name = Jonny Barnes
email = jonny@jonnybarnes.uk
signingkey = ssh-ed25519 AAAA...
Clone it from `https://github.com/bouk/dark-mode-notify` then run `make` and `make install`. [commit]
gpgsign = true
Then make a script to run is automatically, put the plist where your system can find it: `~/Library/LaunchAgents/ke.bou.dark-mode-notify.plist` with the following content: [gpg "ssh"]
program = /Applications/1Password.app/Contents/MacOS/op-ssh-sign
```xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>ke.bou.dark-mode-notify</string>
<key>KeepAlive</key>
<true/>
<key>StandardErrorPath</key>
<string>/Users/jonny/.local/var/log/dark-mode-notify-stderr.log</string>
<key>StandardOutPath</key>
<string>/Users/jonny/.local/var/log/dark-mode-notify-stdout.log</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/usr/local/bin/dark-mode-notify</string>
<string>/Users/jonny/git/dotfiles/zsh/dark-mode-notify.zsh</string>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>
``` ```
Make the log file and script file point to the right location. For clarity `dark-mode-notify.zsh` is in this repo. Do not skip this. Git will not prompt you — with no identity it quietly derives
one from your username and hostname, warns once, and signs nothing.
`$HOME/.extra` is a separate untracked file for other machine-local environment
variables, sourced from `.zshrc`. Keep git out of it:
> [!IMPORTANT]
> Never put `git config --global` in `.extra`. It is re-sourced on every
> `SIGUSR1`, so with several tmux panes the concurrent writes race on
> `~/.gitconfig.lock` and spew `error: could not lock config file`. Put git
> settings in `.gitconfig.local` instead.
## Light and dark mode
Most of this is now handled natively and needs no configuration:
- **ghostty** follows the system appearance itself via
`theme = light:tangere-light.conf,dark:tangere-dark.conf`.
- **tmux** 3.6+ learns the terminal’s theme over OSC 2031 and exposes it as
`#{client_theme}`.
- **bat** picks a theme per invocation from `BAT_THEME_LIGHT` / `BAT_THEME_DARK`.
- **delta** and **nvim** detect the terminal background themselves.
Still outstanding: the tmux status bar is hardcoded to dark-tuned colours, so it
is unreadable in light mode. tmux has `client-light-theme` and
`client-dark-theme` hooks for exactly this — not yet wired up.
Both machines currently run pinned Dark, so the delta and nvim behaviour above is
documented-but-untested here. Worth re-checking when Auto goes back on.
> [!NOTE]
> This previously used [`dark-mode-notify`](https://github.com/bouk/dark-mode-notify)
> as a `launchd` agent that ran `pkill -usr1 zsh` on every appearance change.
> That has been removed. It could never have worked: re-sourcing `.zshrc` runs
> inside each *shell*, but the status bar belongs to the tmux *server* and
> colours to a running nvim, so it could not retheme either. The one variable it
> set was read by nothing. Meanwhile it fired on every unlock, re-running
> `.zshrc` in every pane. Don’t bring it back.

23
zsh/dark-mode-notify.zsh
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@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
#!/usr/bin/env zsh
function switch-dark-mode()
{
local darkMode=true;
if [[ $(defaults read -g AppleInterfaceStyle 2> /dev/null) != 'Dark' ]]; then
darkMode=false
fi
if [[ $darkMode == true ]]; then
echo "Switched to dark mode"
export MACOS_APPEARANCE="dark"
else
echo "Switched to light mode"
export MACOS_APPEARANCE="light"
fi
# Reload zshrc
pkill -usr1 zsh
}
switch-dark-mode