git-ws 0.2.0

Git Workspace - Multi Repository Management Tool

Git Workspace - Multi Repository Management Tool

• Installation
• Usage
• Cheat-Sheet
• Python API
• Alternatives

Git Workspace is a lightweight tool for creating and managing workspaces consisting of several interdependent git repositories. Starting from a main repository, Git Workspace discovers dependencies specified in a manifest file, fetching any specified required repositories and assembling them into a single workspace.

👉 You can read more about the used nomenclature in the documentation.

📦 Installation

Git Workspace is written in Python and - as usual - installing it is pretty easy:

pip install git-ws

And that's it! Ideally, if your project also uses Python, we recommend adding Git Workspace as a dependency to it as well, so that you can track the exact version of it together with your other dependencies. For example, if you use poetry, add it by running

# Add Git Workspace as development dependency:
poetry add --group dev git-ws

📔 Usage

Git Workspace is integrated into git git ws - this is what you will be using most of the time.

Let's assume we have a project called myapp, which requires a library mylib that is maintained in another git repository. In order to use this project with Git Workspace, myapp needs to provide a so called manifest. An Git Workspace manifest is a simple TOML file - by default called git-ws.toml in the project's root folder - which defines the dependencies a project has as well as some other meta information. A minimal manifest for our project could look like this:

[[dependencies]]
name = "mylib"
url = "[e-mail]:example/mylib.git"
revision = "v2.3.4"

If myapp and mylib are stored on the same server (side-by-side), than the manifest can even be simpler:

[[dependencies]]
name = "mylib"
revision = "v2.3.4"

The project will be searched via a relative path (which is either ../mylib or ../mylib.git depending on the main repository's URL). Relative paths are in general useful as they allow to use the same protocol for the main repository as well as any of its dependencies.

To build a workspace from a project prepared like that, simply clone it via git ws:

cd $HOME/Projects
mkdir my_app_workspace
cd my_app_workspace
git ws clone --update [e-mail]:example/myapp.git

👉 Without the --update option, only the main repository will be fetched.

The above will clone the app repository and also the library side-by-side:

ls -a
# Should print something like
.
..
.git-ws
myapp
mylib

As you can see, besides the two repositories we wanted, there is also a hidden .git-ws folder where the tool stores the needed configuration data.

Sometimes there are use cases where using git ws clone cannot be used. For example, when a CI/CD system creates the initial clone of the main repository, you may need a way to fetch the remaining projects. This can be done by simply running the following within the main project:

git ws init --update

👉 As with git ws clone, without the --update, no dependencies will be fetched.

Another important use case is keeping a workspace up-to-date. Lets say you pull in an update in the main repository, which in turn might cause changes in the manifest to be pulled in as well. Updating the existing workspace is as simple as

# Update the workspace (main and all dependent repositories):
git ws update

# Alternatively, run `git rebase` instead of `git pull` in dependencies:
git ws update --rebase

Cheat-Sheet

Initialization

Command	Description
git ws clone URL	Clone git repository from URL as main repository and initialize Git Workspace
git ws init	Initialize Git Workspace. Use current git clone as main repository
git ws manifest create	Create well documented, empty manifest

Basic

Command	Description
git ws update	Pull latest changes on main repository and all dependent repositories (clone them if needed)
git ws update --rebase	Same as above, but fetch and rebase instead of pull
git ws status	Run git status on all repositories (displayed paths include the actual clone path)
git ws add FILES	Run git add FILE on FILES in the corresponding repositories
git ws reset FILES	Run git reset FILE on FILES in the corresponding repositories. Undo git add
git ws commit FILES -m MESSAGE	Run git commit FILE on FILES in the corresponding repositories
git ws commit -m MESSAGE	Run git commit repositories with changes
git ws checkout FILES	Run git checkout FILE on FILES in the corresponding repositories
git ws checkout	Checkout git revision specified as in the manifest(s) (clone them if needed)

Run Commands on all repositories

Command	Description
git ws push	Run git push on all repositories
git ws fetch	Run git fetch on all repositories
git ws rebase	Run git rebase on all repositories
git ws pull	Run git pull on all repositories
git ws diff	Run git diff on all repositories
git ws git CMD	Run git CMD on all repositories
git ws foreach CMD	Run CMD on all repositories

Other

Command	Description
git ws manifest freeze	Print The Resolved Manifest With SHAs For All Project Revisions.
git ws manifest path	Print Path to Main Manifest File.
git ws manifest paths	Print Paths to ALL Manifest Files.
git ws manifest resolve	Print The Manifest With All Projects And All Their Dependencies.
git ws manifest upgrade	Update Manifest To Latest Version.
git ws manifest validate	Validate The Current Manifest, Exiting With An Error On Issues.
git ws info main-path	Print Path to Main Git Clone.
git ws info project-paths	Print Paths to all git clones.
git ws info workspace-path	Print Path to Workspace.

🐍 Python API

Git Workspace is written in Python. Besides the git ws command line tool, there is also an API which you can use to further automate workspace creation and maintenance. If you are interested, have a look into the API documentation.

🤝 Alternatives

Before writing Git Workspace, we investigates several other existing tools in the hope they would fulfil out needs. In particular, we looked into the following tools and methodologies which are widely used to organize large projects:

• git submodules.
• Google's repo tool.
• The west tool developed in the scope of Zephyr.
• Leaving the pure git domain, one can also use a package manager like conan.
• And lastly, there are also approaches to still pack everything into a large so called monorepo.

Unfortunately, none of the tools we tested really satisfied us. But hey, as we are developers - why not starting our own tool for the purpose?

And that's what we did - Git Workspace is a our tool for managing a large workspace consisting of several smaller git projects. Here is how it compares to the other tools we evaluated:

	git submodules	repo	west	Monorepos	git ws
Reusable Components	✅	✅	✅	➖	✅
Ease of Use	➖	✅	✅	✅	✅
Editable Components	➖	✅	➖	✅	✅
Freezing Configurations	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Transitive Dependencies	➖	➖	✅	➖	✅
Relative Dependency Paths	✅	✅	➖	➖	✅

👉 Please note that our view on the various features might be biased. As we did, always look at all the options available to you before deciding for one tool or the other. While the other tools in comparison did not model what we needed for our workflow, they might just be what you are looking for.

If you want to learn more, have a look into the documentation.