mugit 1.0.1

Git multi-repository workspace management tool

This is a tool for managing a workspace containing multiple git repositories.

Although generally all software architects agree that version control is essential to software development, the community is split on what is best for large-scale projects, especially those which heavily reuse components. There are many different opinions (for example, see [1], [2], [3], and [4]) but they generally fall into one of two camps:

• monorepo — one monolithic repository containing everything

• multiple repos — split project into many repositories, each managing a single component

For those whose projects which adopt the philosophy of multiple repos, mugit is used in concert with git to manage the overall project workspace.

The root directory of the workspace, itself managed as a git repository, includes a manifest file. This is an XML file describing which folders in the workspace are themselves git repositories. For each of these, the manifest holds configuration metadata:

• upstream URL, from which to clone the repository and to where to push changes

• which branch to check out

• whether or not to keep the repository pinned, or pointed to a specific revision even if the branch changes (e.g. new commits are added upstream)

Multiple manifest files may exist in a project. Typically one manifest is used during normal development to keep all components up to date on their configured branches, and another manifest (with all repositories pinned) is used to mark what revisions of each component together constitute the last release or snapshot of the overall project.

Installation

• pip install mugit — download and install from PyPI

• pip install mugit-1.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl — install from local wheel file

• pip install -e . — install in editable mode from mugit source folder

Usage

• mugit [COMMAND] --help — get more help overall or for a specific command

• mugit select [-c] <MANIFEST> — select manifest to use in other mugit commands

• mugit pull [-c] — clone missing repositories and fetch/rebase existing ones

• mugit status [-c] [-a] — generate report on the state of the workspace

  • Use -a to list all repositories, not just ones with changes.

• mugit update [-c] — update manifest to reflect current workspace state

• mugit add [-c] --all | <PATH>.. — add repositories to the manifest

  • Specify repositories by path or use --all to automatically scan for them.

• mugit remove <PATH>.. — remove repositories from the manifest

• mugit release <MANIFEST> — create or update a release/snapshot manifest

• mugit --version — display tool version information

Many mugit commands use ANSI escape codes to control cursor movement in the console. This works for most terminals, but some (most notably, the Windows command prompt) may need help from the colorama library. The commands which can make use of colorama accept the optional -c argument, which if used, activates colorama.

Creating a New Project

When setting up a new project, use mugit select to choose the name of the manifest. The selected manifest is tracked in the .git/config of the root project repository.

After creating or cloning project components, use mugit add -a to scan the workspace for repositories, adding an entry for each into the manifest. This creates the manifest XML file if it didn’t exist previously. Note that newly created components will have no upstream URL and will be skipped in all pulls and remote checks.

mkdir FooBar
cd FooBar
git init
mkdir Foo
mkdir Bar
git clone https://example.com/Utilites.git
cd Foo
git init
git commit --allow-empty -m "Initial Revision"
cd ../Bar
git init
git commit --allow-empty -m "Initial Revision"
cd ..
mugit select main
mugit add -a
git add main.xml
git commit -m "Initial Revision"

To add individual components later, create or clone them, and then pass their paths to mugit add to update the manifest. Remember to commit the manifest change to the root project repository.

mkdir Spam
cd Spam
git init
git commit --allow-empty -m "Initial Revision"
cd ..
mugit select main
mugit add Spam
git add main.xml
git commit -m "Add Spam"

When a new component is initially published, use mugit update to update the manifest to include the upstream URL. Remember to commit the manifest change to the root project repository.

cd Foo
git remote add origin https://example.com/foo.git
git push --set-upstream origin master
cd ..
mugit update
git add main.xml
git commit -m "Foo now published at example.com"

Cloning an Upstream Project

Use mugit select followed by mugit pull to initially clone all components in a project.

git clone https://example.com/FooBar.git
cd FooBar
mugit select main
mugit pull

Checking Status

Use mugit status whenever unsure about whether there are local changes, or to check if there are other changes upstream. Normally, only components found to have local or remote changes will be reported. Use the -a option to force all components to be included in the report.

mugit status -a

Downloading Updates

Use mugit pull to fetch upstream changes. The changes are first fetched into the remote tracking branch. The working branch is then rebased onto the remote tracking branch, resulting in a fast-forward (if there were no local changes) or a rebase (if there were local changes).

It’s best to check the status with mugit status first to make sure there are no local untracked or staged changes which might interfere with a rebase.

mugit status
mugit pull

Making a Release

Use mugit release to create a special copy of the selected manifest where all components are pinned, or marked with their current commit SHA1 code listed in the manifest. This is useful for recording the exact revisions of all components used to form a specific snapshot or release of the project.

mugit release release
git add release.xml
git commit -m "Release 1.12.7"
git tag "1.12.7"

Checking Out a Release

A generated manifest can be used later with mugit select to check out the exact revisions of all components in the manifest that were present when that manifest was generated, even if component branches have moved in the interim.

Note that each component ise put into a headless state, even if the revision checked out happens to still be at the head of the configured branch.

mugit select release

License/Warranty

This tool is made available under the MIT license.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.

See the file LICENSE.txt for more information.

[1]

https://gist.github.com/arschles/5d7ba90495eb50fa04fc

[2]

https://gist.github.com/technosophos/9c706b1ef10f42014a06

[3]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10007654

[4]

http://blog.shippable.com/our-journey-to-microservices-and-a-mono-repository