git refresh

git refresh is a git plugin which allows you to simultaneously remove untracked files from your repository and pull from git to help synchronize the state of your repo with remote.

git refresh allows you to configure how exactly to execute the refresh: whether to pull latest updates or not, whether to stash, restore, or leave deltas to git-tracked files untouched, whether to not delete files at all, or even whether to apply git refresh on all nested sub-directories! Uses goroutines to parallelize execution on subdirectories.

Why git refresh?

Have you ever worked on a project where one process or another generates a variety of cache files or otherwise changes your state? And you leave these files be until 2 people start getting different results on some test and you hear "It works on my machine?" I've seen this happen and the issue persists until someone deletes their repo altogether and reclones and the issue is revealed to lie in caches or other non-git tracked files.

git refresh aims to be a user-friendly tool to get your repo synchronized with git to help aid in situations like the above or simply to keep your local clean and up to date. git refresh clears out your untracked files and executes a pull to avoid situations such as having to re-clone outright.

For maximum safety, git refresh generates a "recycle bin" directory in your root and moves untracked files to said recycle bin instead of actually deleting in the event that you need to recover any of these files. refresh is configurable to stash (default) or restore any changes to git-tracked files for maximum control. You can also exclude certain files or directories from the untracked clean up by including them in a ".gitrefresh" file in your directory to avoid removing key files or directories (credentials, node_modules, etc).

Why not git clean?

git clean is a built-in git command which allows you to delete untracked files which even allows for exceptions via regex patterns. git clean is an excellent git command and definitely useful in a pinch.

My goal for git refresh is not as a replacement for git clean but as an alternate tool used for different situations. By allowing for stashes and pulls to occur sequential to clean up, git refresh gets you closer to the state of your remote repo all in one command. The recycle bin allows for easy execution of cleanup without worrying if some important files will be removed in the processs. And as per the below future goals, git refresh aims to give you the capacity to execute git refresh recursively from one starting directory down to all git-tracked sub-directories in the event the user wants to regularly ensure that all (or some subset) off their repos are up to date with git and don't hide surprises in local files.

Install

Currently, you can install this plugin for git by doing the following:

• git clone repo:

$ git clone https://github.com/dialectician4/go_git_refresh.git

• Find directory for git executable, GIT_DIR
• With cwd as this repo, install executable in the same directory as git itself:

$ GOBIN={GIT_DIR}; go install .

• Now you can run git refresh as the below:

$ git refresh .

Roadmap

• Implemented
  • Basic git refresh functionality (untracked file cleanup, exception list, auto-stash and pull)
  • Configuration for pull actions (stash-and-pull, restore-and-pull, no-pull)
  • Disposed of files sent to root-path recycle bin automatically (recycle bin overwritten with each git refresh)
  • Pass -s as a no-delete option in the event you only want to update repos but not impact non-git files
  • pass -p or --propagate to find all git repos underneath the given directory and executes git-refresh on each with the same CLI configurations you initially passed
    • ex: If you have an all-encompassing projects/ directory and want to pull on all of them but not delete any files, you can go to projects/ and run git refresh -s -p (propagates to subdirectories -p but does not delete files -s)
• Future Goals
  • Tighter integration with .gitignore - add your .gitrefresh exceptions to your .gitignore instead of as a separate file
    • Flag individual .gitignore entries using a # comment

Notes

• This specific implementation of git refresh is built as a training exercise to learn Go. This project is std library-only/relies on no third party dependencies besides testing. A second version of git refresh would likely use a standard CLI-parsing library like standard library's flag or pflag or cobra.
• Learning project highlights:
  • Uses goroutines for blazingly fast parallel execution across multiple repos with -p flag.
  • Uses channels to collect logs from across goroutines and sends them to a dedicated goroutine for writing to standard out safely.
  • Manually parses CLI flags without any further tools. More flexible than std/flag.