Metagit

Git for Git Repositories

If you:

• have a directory full of Git repos
• want to version-control the configuration of those repos
• like Git

Then you might find Metagit useful. It offers a Git-like experience for managing Git repos.

Demo

Initialize a Metagit repository:

$ cd ~/projects/    # or wherever you store your Git projects, or use metagit -C
$ metagit init      # creates .metagit, a Git repo where tracked project configs are kept
Initialized Metagit repository in /home/dmtucker/projects
$ metagit status
Untracked projects
  (use "metagit add <project>..." to begin tracking)
	project1/
	project2/

Track changes to project config:

$ metagit add project1/ project2/    # start tracking some projects
$ git -C project1/ remote add foo git@somehost.com:foo/project1.git
$ rm -rf project2/
$ metagit status
Changes
  (use "metagit add/rm <project>..." to accept changes)
  (use "metagit restore <project>..." to undo changes)
	modified: project1
	deleted:  project2

Git tracks lines in files. Metagit tracks config in projects.

$ metagit diff
diff --git a/project1 b/project1
index 515f483..93a874c 100644
--- a/project1
+++ b/project1
@@ -3,3 +3,6 @@
 	filemode = true
 	bare = false
 	logallrefupdates = true
+[remote "foo"]
+	url = git@somehost.com:foo/project1.git
+	fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/foo/*
diff --git a/project2 b/project2
deleted file mode 100644
index 515f483..0000000
--- a/project2
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-[core]
-	repositoryformatversion = 0
-	filemode = true
-	bare = false
-	logallrefupdates = true

This example deleted project2 so as to demonstrate metagit restore (below), but keep in mind, ONLY CONFIGURATION IS TRACKED. If you need all of project2 back, you should restore from a backup.

$ metagit restore project2  # only restores git config! not branches/tags/etc.
$ metagit add project1      # add the project again to keep the changes
$ metagit rm project1       # stop tracking a project (does not affect the actual project)

About .metagit

.metagit is just another Git repo in your projects folder. It is created by metagit init, which automatically starts tracking it. When metagit add is used to start tracking a project, that project's .git/config file is copied into .metagit and committed.

$ git -C .metagit log
36cec91 (HEAD -> master) Remove project1
a1ed312 Add project1
185ed15 Add project2
e4d274d Add project1
1e16b5e Add .metagit

Pro tip: Consider a clone of the .metagit repo a (Metagit) "clone" of your projects folder. For example, push the .metagit repo to GitHub to allow for easy provisioning of new dev machines:

$ mkdir ~/projects
$ cd ~/projects/
$ git clone git@github.com:dmtucker/.metagit.git
...
$ metagit restore project2