[PunchyHamster]

Using actual configuration management (in my case Puppet, tho Ansible is lighter choice) is just all around better way

First: you can template stuff easily. Like having config that have different parameters (say a display name to display stuff on) between devices.

Second: You can do "the everything else" of the machine setup, not just configs but also installed apps and various quirks and tweaks.

[sgarland]

Generally I agree, though for lighter-weight stuff like personal config management, I’ve grown fond of chezmoi [0]. It has templating support, so I can do things like auto-detect if it’s a work machine or personal, and render the appropriate files where needed.

I think it can also do rudimentary app management via storing a lockfile, but I haven’t tried that out.

0: https://chezmoi.io/