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Like perhaps many newbies to Raspberry Pi, I'm experimenting with the various OS options and how to customize the OS to my preferences. Every time I copy an OS to one of my Micro SD cards, I perform a few tasks manually:

  • Perform GUI and CLI updates
  • Disable Bluetooth
  • Enable VNC
  • Copy my public SSH key
  • Install Vim
  • Change background to solid color
  • Reduce GUI resolution
  • Remove unneeded folders and files from ~.

So far I've done the above about a dozen times. I'd like to not repeat myself anymore. But I'd also like to take advantage of git branching so I can experiment. VS Code is available for Raspberry Pi but unsupported. I'd like to create a git branch of the boot drive, install VS Code, see if it's stable enough for my needs. If not, take advantage of git and revert to the main branch, start from that point again.

In case it's relevant, I know a bit of Linux, but that's mostly because I use macOS as my main machine and am familiar with its command line, as well as having used Linux for web services.

What would be the best way to integrate version control with Raspberry Pi starter images?

Chuck
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1 Answers1

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My solution so far is to use a separate repository to hold a script that does about 90% of what I want. It's not perfect, but I plan to refine it over time and correct the one thing in it that's not working so far (enabling VNC).

In case anyone else finds it useful, here it is (with some redaction):

#!/usr/bin/env bash

rm -r ~/Bookshelf/ ~/Documents/ ~/Downloads/ ~/Music/ ~/Pictures/ ~/Templates/ ~/Public/ ~/Videos/


echo "" >> ~/.bashrc
echo "alias ls="ls -la"" >> ~/.bashrc
echo "alias ll="ls -golAFhG"" >> ~/.bashrc
echo "alias lll="ls -lAFG"" >> ~/.bashrc
echo "alias ..="cd .."" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc


git config --global user.email chivalry@mac.com
git config --global user.name "Charles Ross"


sudo cp config-files/90forceyes /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/
sudo apt full-upgrade
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install vim
sudo apt-get install gh
sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt clean


echo "ghp_..." | gh auth login --with-token


mkdir ~/.ssh
cp config-files/authorized_keys ~/.ssh/


Enable VNC


sudo raspi-config nonint do_vnc 0


Boot into CLI


sudo raspi-config nonint do_boot_behaviour B2
sudo systemctl disable bluetooth


sudo reboot now

I haven't figured out how to change the GUI resolution or remove the desktop picture and set the background to a single color in the GUI, but this is sufficient for now. When creating a new boot drive for the Pi, I copy the repository folder to a thumb drive and execute the script. Takes a few minutes, and isn't completely non-interactive yet (because of some existing configuration files during, I think, the full-upgrade command). And I'm not positive that everything I'm doing with apt is necessary, but it's a start.

Chuck
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