Running a script within a run_once_before script

[pszponder]

I am trying to create a run_once_before script which installs brew, ansible, and sets up additional items such as my git directories and ssh.

To help keep the codebase maintainable, I decided to add the logic for installing brew in a seperate script called install_brew.sh and reference it inside my run_once_before_setup.sh script.

When I try to run the chezmoi apply command, I get an error indicating that the install_brew.sh is not a script.

I am not sure what is going on since I have the script setup correctly as executable.

Here is what run_once_before_setup.sh looks like

#!/usr/bin/env bash

set -e  # Exit immediately on any error

echo "🔧 Running setup..."

./install_brew.sh

And this is the install_brew.sh script

#!/usr/bin/env bash

set -e  # Exit on error

echo "🔧 Starting Homebrew installation..."

# Detect OS and Distro
OS=$(uname)
echo "🖥️ Detected OS: $OS"

DISTRO="unknown"
if [[ "$OS" == "Linux" && -f /etc/os-release ]]; then
    . /etc/os-release
    DISTRO=$ID
    echo "🐧 Detected Linux distro: $DISTRO"
fi

# Install dependencies based on distro
install_dependencies() {
    echo "📦 Installing required dependencies..."
    case "$DISTRO" in
        ubuntu | debian)
            sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
            sudo apt install -y build-essential procps curl file git
            ;;
        fedora|rhel|centos)
            # Update system
            sudo dnf upgrade --refresh -y

            # Install Development Tools group and core utilities
            sudo dnf groupinstall -y 'Development Tools'      # compilers, make, etc.
            sudo dnf install -y procps-ng curl file git
            ;;
        arch | manjaro)
            sudo pacman -Syu --noconfirm
            sudo pacman -S --noconfirm base-devel procps-ng curl file git
            ;;
        *)
            echo "⚠️ Unknown or unsupported Linux distro. Skipping dependency install."
            ;;
    esac
}

# Run dependency install for Linux
if [[ "$OS" == "Linux" ]]; then
    install_dependencies
fi

# Install Homebrew (only if not already installed)
if ! command -v brew &> /dev/null; then

    # Non-interactive Homebrew install
    echo "🍺 Installing Homebrew..."
    NONINTERACTIVE=1 /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

else
    echo "✅ Homebrew already installed."
fi

# Confirm installation
echo "🧪 Verifying Homebrew..."
brew --version

echo "🎉 Homebrew setup complete!"

[twpayne]

There are likely several things wrong here:

1. run_ scripts run with your home directory as the working directory. See Use scripts to perform actions. So, install_brew.sh needs to be in your home directory.
2. If you created install_brew.sh somewhere in ~/.local/share/chezmoi then chezmoi will treat it as a file that you want to manage in your home directory. run_before_ scripts are run before chezmoi apply updates your home directory, so you won't see it. See Application order.

tl;dr Replace

./install_brew.sh

with

$CHEZMOI_SOURCE_DIR/install_brew.sh

and add install_brew.sh to .chezmoiignore.

[pszponder]

I tried your suggestion and it worked. Thank you for helping to clarify how this works.

[Lockszmith-GH]

I recently posted #4415 where I describe my bootstrap chezmoi approach to this particular issue of setting up before properly initializaing.
Please check it out and see if this is helpful. Let me know if you have any questions (either here or in that discussion)

[pszponder]

I read through your post and took a look at your repo, thank you very much for sharing, this helped me get a better understanding and ideas on how I can use chezmoi to setup my own dotfiles.

[Lockszmith-GH]

Just note, I'm usually not taking the 'simplest' approach - might be a mental thing, I'm a tinkerer, I play with it, and my repo is in constant flux.
What I suggest is, you take a look at other's setup as well, as I got a lot of ideas from that as well.