diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
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+++ b/README.md
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+# dotfiles
+
+My personal dotfiles and configurations.
+
+## The Contents
+
+- `common` - A set of configuration files common to every system.
+- `$hostname` - Configuration files specific to the system with the given hostname.
+- `$x` - Additional (optional) configurations that can also be added.
+
+## The System
+
+Each subdirectory of this repository is a collection of files to install
+relative to the current user's home directory (assumed to be `$HOME`)
+which are merged into the home directory by the `install.sh` script.
+The script chooses specific subdirectories and merges them in the following
+order, with precedence given to the more recently-listed subdirectory if two or
+more contain a file at the same path:
+
+- Command-line arguments (precedence given first-to-last)
+- System hostname
+- The `common` directory
diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
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+++ b/install.sh
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+#!/bin/sh
+
+dotfiles_dir="${DOTFILES:-$(dirname "$(realpath "$0")")}"
+hostname="${HOSTNAME:-$(hostname)}"
+
+customs=$(
+    for i in $@
+    do
+       echo "${dotfiles_dir}/${i}/"
+    done
+)
+
+rsync -lr ${customs} "${dotfiles_dir}/${hostname}/" "${dotfiles_dir}/common/" "${HOME}"