After trying a bunch of tools I settled on git-tracking $HOME with '*' on my .gitignore (ignores everything, you have to add new files by --force). Is this better? symlinks seem like a smell.
Is there a reason to avoid symlinks? I've been using this setup for a few years now, (using an artisanal, home-rolled script before I discovered stow) and it's worked superbly.
[0]: https://monkeyfacts.io/git-whitelist-directory-subfiles/
And I agree, symlinks seem like a smell.