New Machine Build

A new machine is a PITA. This makes it less, at least for me it does.

Overview

This repository contains scripts to automate the setup of a new development machine. It handles the installation of common development tools and applications using package managers:

• For macOS: Homebrew
• For Windows: Chocolatey

Lifecycle architecture

Both setup scripts now follow the same regulated-friendly lifecycle:

flowchart LR
  A[preflight-validation] --> B[IQ]
  B --> C[bootstrap]
  C --> D[package-installation]
  D --> E[OQ]
  E --> F[language-dependencies]
  F --> G[PQ]
  G --> H[post-checks]

Loading

The qualification stages are intended to be non-mutating when run through validation flags:

• IQ validates prerequisites, package manager presence, PATH visibility, and checksum accessibility.
• OQ validates operational behavior, dependency-manager health, conflict detection, and rollback safety checks.
• PQ validates response-time, disk I/O, network responsiveness, and baseline resource thresholds.

Usage

macOS

./NewMachineSetup.sh

Qualification-only troubleshooting flags:

./NewMachineSetup.sh --iq-only
./NewMachineSetup.sh --oq-only
./NewMachineSetup.sh --pq-only
./NewMachineSetup.sh --validate-only

Windows

.\NewMachineSetup.ps1

Qualification-only troubleshooting flags:

.\NewMachineSetup.ps1 -IQOnly -SkipElevation
.\NewMachineSetup.ps1 -OQOnly -SkipElevation
.\NewMachineSetup.ps1 -PQOnly -SkipElevation
.\NewMachineSetup.ps1 -ValidateOnly -SkipElevation

Optional Windows Update stage:

.\NewMachineSetup.ps1 -WindowsUpdate

Qualification thresholds

Default PQ thresholds can be tuned with environment variables:

• NMB_MIN_RAM_MB (default 4096)
• NMB_MIN_DISK_MB (default 10240)
• NMB_MIN_AVAILABLE_MEMORY_MB (PowerShell PQ default 512)
• NMB_PACKAGE_MANAGER_THRESHOLD_SECONDS (default 5)
• NMB_NETWORK_THRESHOLD_SECONDS (default 5)
• NMB_DISK_WRITE_MBPS_MIN (default 5)
• NMB_LOAD_THRESHOLD_MULTIPLIER (Bash PQ default 2)

Increase these thresholds for slower CI runners, or tighten them for production-like qualification hosts.

Customization

To customize the installations:

• Edit Brewfile for macOS Homebrew packages and applications
• Edit chocolatey.config for Windows applications
• Edit features.txt for Windows features
• Edit requirements.txt for Python packages
• Edit Gemfile for Ruby gems

Script architecture and extension model

Design goals in this repository:

• SOLID: each stage is orchestrated independently and low-level install logic is isolated behind dedicated functions.
• DRY: shared behavior (retry, failure tracking, operation-state tracking, summary output) is centralized in reusable helpers.
• ACID-like consistency: prerequisite validation runs first, install operations track explicit state transitions (planned, running, succeeded, failed), and retries are applied in a controlled way.

When adding a new installer:

1. Add a dedicated install function (single responsibility).
2. Reuse the shared retry/failure/state helpers.
3. Hook the function into the appropriate stage.
4. Keep qualification and preflight checks in validation stages when new inputs or dependencies are required.

Regulated environment best practices

• Run --iq-only or -IQOnly before mutating a host.
• Use --oq-only or -OQOnly after package changes to confirm dependency managers still behave correctly.
• Reserve --validate-only for CI/CD or formal qualification evidence when a full non-mutating pass is required.
• Treat PQ thresholds as release criteria and document any local overrides used during validation.

Brewfile

The Brewfile uses Homebrew Bundle, a feature that allows you to specify all your desired packages, casks, and even Mac App Store applications in a single file.

To manually install from the Brewfile:

brew bundle

Chocolatey Config

The chocolatey.config is an XML file that defines all the Windows packages to install. It follows the Chocolatey package configuration format.

To manually install from the Chocolatey config:

choco install chocolatey.config

Contributing

As this is my personal set up I will not be accepting package PR's. I'm sorry, but I'm not installing things I don't need. You can fork it though.