diff --git a/append_to_bashrc b/append_to_bashrc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d43e3c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/append_to_bashrc
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+
+# change this to the git repo path here where the dotfiles live.
+dot_dir=~/src/dot
+# this will just run that file in the repo every time you open a new terminal
+. ${dot_dir}/bash_prompt.sh 
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/bash_prompt.sh b/bash_prompt.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..b61e7ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bash_prompt.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+# Configure bash prompt
+# Regular Colors
+Black='\e[0;30m\]'        # Black
+Red='\[\e[0;31m\]'          # Red
+Green='\[\e[0;32m\]'        # Green
+Yellow='\[\e[0;33m\]'       # Yellow
+Blue='\[\e[0;34m\]'         # Blue
+Purple='\[\e[0;35m\]'       # Purple
+Cyan='\[\e[0;36m\]'         # Cyan
+White='\[\e[0;37m\]'        # White
+Light_Gray="\[\033[0;37m\]"
+
+# Bold
+BBlack='\[\e[1;30m\]'       # Black
+BRed='\[\e[1;31m\]'         # Red
+BGreen='\[\e[1;32m\]'       # Green
+BYellow='\[\e[1;33m\]'      # Yellow
+BBlue='\[\e[1;34m\]'        # Blue
+BPurple='\[\e[1;35m\]'      # Purple
+BCyan='\[\e[1;36m\]'        # Cyan
+BWhite='\[\e[1;37m\]'       # White
+BLight_Gray='\[\033[1;37m\]'
+
+# High Intensity
+IBlack='\[\e[0;90m\]'       # Black
+IRed='\[\e[0;91m\]'         # Red
+IGreen='\[\e[0;92m\]'       # Green
+IYellow='\[\e[0;93m\]'      # Yellow
+IBlue='\[\e[0;94m\]'        # Blue
+IPurple='\[\e[0;95m\]'      # Purple
+ICyan='\[\e[0;96m\]'        # Cyan
+IWhite='\[\e[0;97m\]'       # White
+
+# Bold High Intensity
+BIBlack='\[\e[1;90m\]'      # Black
+BIRed='\[\e[1;91m\]'        # Red
+BIGreen='\[\e[1;92m\]'      # Green
+BIYellow='\[\e[1;93m\]'     # Yellow
+BIBlue='\[\e[1;94m\]'       # Blue
+BIPurple='\[\e[1;95m\]'     # Purple
+BICyan='\[\e[1;96m\]'       # Cyan
+BIWhite='\[\e[1;97m\]'      # White
+
+# reset colors
+NONE="\[\e[0m\]"
+
+# set up git prompt components
+function parse_git_branch {
+  git branch 2>/dev/null | grep '^*' | colrm 1 2 | sed 's_\(.*\)_(\1)_'
+}
+
+function git_dirty {
+  git diff --quiet HEAD &>/dev/null
+  [ $? == 1 ] && echo "!"
+}
+# prompt components, set colors here using names from above. 
+# Some alternate colors are commented out as examples.
+ps1_user="$BIBlue\u$NONE"
+#ps1_user="$Blue\u$NONE" # non-intense, non bold blue username
+ps1_host="$IGreen\h$NONE"
+ps1_dir="$BIYellow\w$NONE"
+#ps1_dir="$BICyan\w$NONE" # cyan for dir name, still bold and intense
+ps1_git="$Yellow\$(parse_git_branch)$Red\$(git_dirty)$NONE"
+#ps1_git="$Cyan\$(parse_git_branch)$Red\$(git_dirty)$NONE" # cyan branch name
+
+# actually construct prompt
+# delimiters between prompt components (like :@) are your default terminal text color, i.e. white
+# renders as: user@host:dir(branch)! $
+export PS1="${ps1_user}@${ps1_host}:${ps1_dir}${ps1_git} \[\$\] "
+# renders as: dir(branch)! >>
+#export PS1="${ps1_dir}${ps1_git} \[\>>\] "
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/git_setup.sh b/git_setup.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..a844693
--- /dev/null
+++ b/git_setup.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# check git repo path argument
+dot_dir=$1
+if [ -z "${dot_dir}" ]; then
+    echo "No argument supplied. Try from the directory: sh git_setup.sh \`pwd\`"
+elif [ ! -d "${dot_dir}" ]; then
+    echo "Argument is not a directory. Try from the directory: sh git_setup.sh \`pwd\`"
+else
+    # if everything looks ok...
+    # softlink gitconfig into home directory, will not overwrite files
+    file="gitconfig"
+    backup="${HOME}/.gitconfig_old"
+    # check if the file is already symlinked
+    if  [ -h "${HOME}/.${file}" ]; then
+	echo "${HOME}/.${file} is already symlinked:"
+	ls -al ${HOME}/.${file}
+    # check if the file exists and move before linking
+    elif [ -f "${HOME}/.${file}" ]; then
+	mv ${HOME}/.${file} ${backup}
+	echo "${HOME}/.${file} already exists. It has been moved to ${backup}"
+	ln -s $dot_dir/$file ${HOME}/.$file 2> /dev/null
+	echo "File link created:"
+	ls -al ${HOME}/.${file}
+    # otherwise, symlink it
+    else
+	ln -s $dot_dir/$file ${HOME}/.$file 2> /dev/null
+	echo "File link created:"
+	ls -al ${HOME}/.${file}
+    fi
+    # set gitignore global to the versioned file in the dotfiles directory
+    git config --global core.excludesfile ${dot_dir}/gitignore_global
+
+    # get user's name and email
+    echo "Enter a name to appear on your git commits: "
+    read name
+    echo "Enter an email address for your git commits: "
+    read email
+
+    # add name and email to git config
+    git config --global user.name "${name}"
+    git config --global user.email "${email}"
+fi
diff --git a/gitconfig b/gitconfig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d78b027
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gitconfig
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+[color]
+        diff = auto
+        status = auto
+        branch = auto
+
+[color "diff"]
+        meta = yellow
+
+[alias]
+        st = status
+        cm = commit -m
+        cam = commit -am
+        br = branch
+        co = checkout
+	nb = checkout -b
+	fpush = push origin -u HEAD
+        df = diff --word-diff=color
+        lg = log --graph --pretty=format:'%Cred%h%Creset -%C(yellow)%d%Creset %s %Cgreen(%cr - %cn)%Creset' --abbrev-commit --date=relative
+        sub = submodule update
+        unstage = reset HEAD
+	uncommit = reset --soft HEAD~1
+[branch]
+        autosetupmerge = true
+        autosetuprebase = always
+[core]
+        whitespace = trailing-space,space-before-tab
+        filemode = false
+        autocrlf = input
+	editor = emacs
+[rerere]
+        enabled = 1
+[push]
+        default = tracking
+[diff]
+        mnemonicprefix = true
+[merge]
+        stat = true
+
diff --git a/gitignore_global b/gitignore_global
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dccc2ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gitignore_global
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+\#*#
+\#*
+\.#*
+*~