BUG: install.sh doesn't respect ZDOTDIR environment variable

[maxrantil]

Bug Description

install.sh hardcodes symlink destinations to $HOME/.zshrc but .zprofile sets ZDOTDIR=$HOME/.config/zsh (XDG Base Directory specification). This causes zsh to not find .zshrc on login, breaking starship prompt initialization.

Current Behavior

install.sh line 70:

link_file "$DOTFILES_DIR/.zshrc" "$HOME/.zshrc"

But .zprofile line 18 sets:

export ZDOTDIR="${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/zsh"

Result: Zsh looks for .zshrc in ~/.config/zsh/ but install.sh creates it in ~/

Impact

• Starship prompt doesn't initialize on SSH login
• Users see plain hostname% instead of colored starship prompt
• All zsh configurations fail to load
• Aliases, functions, and plugins not available

Expected Behavior

install.sh should respect ZDOTDIR environment variable and create symlinks in the correct location:

• If ZDOTDIR is set → symlink to $ZDOTDIR/.zshrc
• If ZDOTDIR is unset → symlink to $HOME/.zshrc (current behavior)

Proposed Fix

# Determine where zsh config should go
ZSH_CONFIG_DIR="${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}"

# Create ZDOTDIR if it doesn't exist
if [ -n "$ZDOTDIR" ] && [ ! -d "$ZDOTDIR" ]; then
    mkdir -p "$ZDOTDIR"
    echo "[CREATE] Directory: $ZDOTDIR"
fi

# Link zshrc to correct location
link_file "$DOTFILES_DIR/.zshrc" "$ZSH_CONFIG_DIR/.zshrc"

Reproduction

1. Source .zprofile which sets ZDOTDIR=~/.config/zsh
2. Run install.sh
3. SSH into system
4. Observe: Plain prompt, no starship, no aliases

Environment

• OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
• Shell: zsh 5.8.1
• Context: Discovered during vm-infra provisioning testing

Related

• XDG Base Directory Specification compliance
• Affects all users who set ZDOTDIR in their environment

Workaround

Currently using workaround in vm-infra ansible playbook to create ~/.config/zsh/ and symlink .zshrc manually after dotfiles installation. Would prefer to fix root cause in dotfiles repo.

Labels

bug, xdg-compliance, zsh