GDVC Mini

Simple version control using Google Drive folders. Simplifes the process of quick iteration and dev sharing within drive.

A simplified midway between dvc/rclone.

Alternatives:

Rclone/DVC:

1. Rclone/dvc require permissions for downloading and initial setup. This makes others testing a repo harder
2. DVC also uses a custom file format and doesn't allow for quick downloading for testing

Git LFS:

1. Limited file storage and no support for custom backends

Note: This is not intended for full model checkpoints, as each version currently duplicates the entire folder.

Install

pip install gdvc

dev Version:

pip install -e .

push to drive setup:

gcloud auth application-default login --scopes=https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform,https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive

init your drive folder:

gdvc init https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/YOUR_FOLDER_ID

Usage

Track directories:

gdvc track add models
gdvc track add data
gdvc track list

Upload a version (to your configured private Google Drive folder):

gdvc upload v1

Download version:

gdvc download v1
gdvc download latest

Change to different Drive folder:

gdvc change_folder_root https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/NEW_FOLDER_ID

Commands

• init <folder_url> - Initialize project
• track add/remove/list - Manage tracked directories
• upload <version> - Upload tracked directories as version
• download <version> - Download version to current directory
• change_folder_root <url> - Switch to new Drive folder, keep current version only
• publish <version> - Make version public
• update - Download latest version

File Structure

Uploads create: version_name/directory_name/files Downloads merge into current directory preserving structure.

Configuration

Project settings are stored in .gdvc_config.json which can be safely committed to git. Contains Drive folder URLs, version history, and tracked directories.

Sample config structure:

{
  "drive_folder_url": "https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/<sample_folder>",
  "versions": {
    "v1.0": {
      "url": "https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/<sample_folder>",
      "local_path": ".",
      "is_public": false
    },
   },
  "public_version": "v0",
  "current_version": "v1.0",
  "tracked_directories": ["models", "data"]
}