GNU Stow Alternatives

GNU Stow is described as 'Symlink farm manager which takes distinct packages of software and/or data located in separate directories on the filesystem, and makes them appear to be installed in the same place. This is particularly useful for keeping track of system-wide and per-user' and is an app in the development category. There are eight alternatives to GNU Stow for a variety of platforms, including Mac, Linux, Windows, BSD and Rust apps. The best GNU Stow alternative is Symbiote. It's not free, so if you're looking for a free alternative, you could try chezmoi or Anvil for macOS. Other great apps like GNU Stow are filetailor, Mackup, lnk and confy.

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Alternatives
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Alternatives list

  1. Symbiote icon
     1 like

    A native macOS menu-bar utility that frees up disk space by keeping apps and large files on an external drive using symbolic links, while they still appear where you expect them.

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Mac
    Good alternative?
     
  2. chezmoi icon
     10 likes

    Dotfiles manager through a version control system.

    14 chezmoi alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • FreeBSD
    • OpenBSD
    • Mac
    Good alternative?
     
  3. End manual app setup on macOS. Batch install development tools, sync configurations via GitHub, and troubleshoot issues —no virtualization, just smart automation.

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Mac
    Good alternative?
     
  4. filetailor icon
     2 likes

    filetailor is a peer-based configuration management utility for plain-text files (and directories) such as dotfiles. Files are backed up to a specified folder using filetailor, transferred to another device using tools such as Nextcloud or Syncthing, and then restored on other...

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Good alternative?
     
  5.  3 likes

    Keep your application settings in sync (OS X/Linux).

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    Good alternative?
     
  6. lnk icon
     Like

    Lnk makes managing your dotfiles straightforward, no tedious setups, no complex configurations. Just tell Lnk what files you want tracked, and it’ll automatically move them into a tidy Git repository under ~/.config/lnk.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    Good alternative?
     
  7.  Like

    A batteries-included config manager made in rust for Linux/UNIX based systems.

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Rust
    Good alternative?
     
  8. Your macOS development environment, perfectly preserved. Never lose your setup again.

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Mac
    Good alternative?
     
8 of 8 GNU Stow alternatives