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Full Mac Setup Process (for myself)

There are some things in life that just can't be automated... or aren't 100% worth the time 😒

This document covers that, at least in terms of setting up a brand new Mac out of the box.

Initial configuration of a brand new Mac

Before starting, I completed Apple's mandatory macOS setup wizard (creating a local user account). Once on the macOS desktop, I do the following (in order):

  • Install Command Line Tools and Ansible (following the guide in README.md)
  • Sign in in App Store (since mas can't sign in automatically)
  • Clone mac-dev-playbook to the Mac: git clone https://github.com/micxer/mac-dev-playbook.git
  • Open the browser and login to Nextcloud
  • Download Configs/config.yml to the playbook directory
  • Run the playbook with --skip-tags post.
    • If there are errors, you may need to finish up other tasks like installing 'old-fashioned' apps first (since I try to place Photoshop in the Dock and it can't be installed automatically). Then, run the playbook again ;)
  • Start Synchronization tasks:
    • Open Photos and make sure iCloud sync options are correct
    • Open Music, make sure computer is authorized, and set Library sync options
    • Open Dropbox, sign in, and set up sync
  • Install old-fashioned apps (if required)
  • Manual settings to automate someday:
    • Finder:
      • Disable click-to-show Desktop: defaults write com.apple.WindowManager EnableStandardClickToShowDesktop -bool false
    • System Preferences:
      • Accessibility > Display > Reduce transparency
    • Safari:
      • View > Show Status Bar
      • Preferences > Advanced > "Show full website address"
      • Preferences > Advanced > "Show Develop menu in menu bar"
  • Symlink the synchronized config.yml into the playbook dir: ln -s /Users/jgeerling/Dropbox/Apps/Config/mac-dev-playbook/config.yml /Users/jgeerling/Development/mac-dev-playbook/config.yml
  • These things might be automatable, but I do them manually right now:
    • Configure Time Machine backup drive
    • Install Wireguard VPN configurations (if needed)

To Wrap in Post-provision automation

The following tasks have to wait for the initial Dropbox sync to complete before they'll succeed. So ideally I'll stick this all in a post-provision script but somehow flag it not to run on first provision.

# ZSH Aliases.
ln -s /Users/jgeerling/Dropbox/Apps/Config/.aliases /Users/jgeerling/.aliases

# Electrum BTC Wallet (open Electrum first).
ln -s /Users/jgeerling/Dropbox/Apps/Electrum/default_wallet /Users/jgeerling/.electrum/wallets/default_wallet

# SSH setup.
ssh-keygen  # and create a default key to set up .ssh folder
sudo ln -s /Users/jgeerling/Dropbox/Apps/Config/ssh/config ~/.ssh/config
# TODO - Manually copy any shared SSH keys that are needed.

# Ansible setup.
sudo mkdir -p /etc/ansible
sudo ln -s /Users/jgeerling/Dropbox/Apps/Config/ansible/ansible.cfg /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg
sudo ln -s /Users/jgeerling/Dropbox/Apps/Config/ansible/hosts /etc/ansible/hosts
sudo ln -s /Users/jgeerling/Dropbox/VMs/roles /etc/ansible/roles
mkdir -p /Users/jgeerling/.ansible
ln -s /Users/jgeerling/Dropbox/Apps/Config/ansible/galaxy_token /Users/jgeerling/.ansible/galaxy_token
ln -s /Users/jgeerling/Dropbox/Apps/Config/ansible/mm-vault-password.txt /Users/jgeerling/.ansible/mm-vault-password.txt
ln -s /Users/jgeerling/Dropbox/VMs/ansible_collections /Users/jgeerling/.ansible/collections

# Sequel Ace favorites. (Open Sequel Ace first)
cp /Users/jgeerling/Dropbox/Apps/Config/Sequel\ Ace/Favorites.plist /Users/jgeerling/Library/Containers/com.sequel-ace.sequel-ace/Data/Library/Application\ Support/Sequel\ Ace/Data/Favorites.plist

# Font setup.
cp ~/Dropbox/Apps/Config/Fonts/* ~/Library/Fonts/

# Vim setup.
mkdir -p ~/.vim/autoload
mkdir -p ~/.vim/bundle
cd ~/.vim/autoload
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tpope/vim-pathogen/master/autoload/pathogen.vim > pathogen.vim
cd ~/.vim/bundle
git clone https://github.com/preservim/nerdtree.git

When formatting old Mac

  • Make sure to backup anything new:
    • Fonts from ~/Library/Fonts
    • Sequel Ace shortcuts from ~/Library/Containers/com.sequel-ace.sequel-ace/Data/Library/Application\ Support/Sequel\ Ace/Data/Favorites.plist
    • VSCodium extensions list
    • Signatures in Preview
  • Follow Apple's guide here