git-splits - Extracts directories into a new branch with re-written history containing only those directories.
change into the directory containing your repo
cd myrepo
Create new branch branch_name with only the listed directories
git splits -b branch_name dir1 dir2
When running a second time on the same repo, you'll need to use -f option
git splits -f -b branch_name dir1 dir2
Usage: git splits [option...] -b branch_name dir_name [dir_name…]
-b new branch name
-f force, use if you get 'create a new backup' error
-t forces grep to process all files as text, instead of as a binary type which is the default. use this option if you get binary file match errors
by default, git-splits will make a backup to .git/refs/original. when running git splits more than once on the same repo, you'll get a message that this backup exists and it will refuse to run. To force it to execute, use the
-foption which will delete the backup and create the new branch
git splits is a git extension that extracts multiple directories of a git repo into a new branch, allowing you to optionally push the new branch to a standalone repo.
Creates a new branch <branch> from the current branch, modifies it to only retain the directories in <directories> and rewrites the history of the branch to include only the files within each directory listed.
This command is a wrapper around git filter-branch and as such, all behavior and warnings applicable to git filter-branch apply to git splits.
Note that this operation is very I/O expensive. If your repository is large, it might be a good idea to modify the code for your situation. See the git filter-branch documentation for details on using the -d option.
git splits is an unofficial git extension that can be easily added to your git installation by adding the script to a directory within your shell's path.
On OSX, git splits requires GNU tools (including gxargs and ggrep), which can be installed using brew install findutils grep. Otherwise, Mac users will see the error "ggrep: command not found".
Execute the following one-liner from a bash shell on your local machine.
sudo wget -O $(dirname $(which git))/git-splits https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ajdruff/git-splits/master/git-splits;sudo chmod a+x $(dirname $(which git))/git-splits;
This will download a copy to the same directory that the git binary is located in, and set the executable bit for the owner.
-
Download the
git-splitsfile from the latest tagged release or clone the repo. The latest version will always be in branchmaster. Allgit-splitsreleases are here.cp git-splits $(dirname $(which git))/ -
Once the script is in place, you can call it via git (don't call it directly.
git splits
Note there is no dash
-between 'git' and 'splits'.
Please take the time to make a complete backup of both the remote and local repositories and associated working directories prior to using git splits.
Its also recommended that you operate on a clone of your local repo.
Since git splits is simply a wrapper around the built-in git filter-branch extension, using it carries the same risk as using git filter-branch directly. As always, when working with git, results may work as designed, but not as expected. It is for these reasons that it is strongly advised that you first make a complete backup of both the remote and local repositories and associated working directories prior to using git splits.
#dev repo
public_html
config
docs
admin
mysql
You would like to extract public_html and config directories into a new branch called 'MyWebsite'.
checkout the dev branch
git checkout dev
create a new branch from the current one, adding only the directories you want:
git splits -b MyWebsite public_html config
git splits -b database mysql
You'll get an error similar to this :
Cannot create a new backup.
A previous backup already exists in refs/original/
Force overwriting the backup with -f
If you check in .git/refs/original, you'll see the backup.
To enable the operation to proceed, you must delete the backup by using the -f flag as the first option (the order of options is important):
git splits -f -b database mysql
Note that because git splits rewrites the history for only the new branch that is created, the backup is extraneous. All the same, it is cautioned to make a complete backup of both your origin and your local repositories before using git splits.
This example is exactly like Example 1 except that we go one step further and make the new branch into its own repo.
See example 1 for directory structure.
# checkout the current dev branch that holds the directories that we want
git checkout dev
# use `git splits` to create a new branch that holds only our website files and not anything we don't want
git splits -b branch_my_website public_html config
This creates a new branch branch_my_website and adds the public_html and config directories to it.
Now create a new empty repo either locally or on a remote server. For this example, we'll assume we've created an empty repo called repo_my_website on GitHub that has path: git@github.com:simpliwp/repo_my_website.git
After the successful split, and after you created the remote empty repo, run the following commands within the local repo you ran git splits on:
add a new remote origin for the empty repo so we can push to the empty repo
git remote add origin_my_website git@github.com:simpliwp/repo_my_website.git
push the branch to the empty repo's master branch
git push origin_my_website branch_my_website:master
Now change current directory out of the old repo
cd /path/to/where/you/want/the/new/local/repo
clone the remote repo you just pushed to
git clone git@github.com:simpliwp/repo_my_website.git
Done.
core filter-branch code taken from a Stackoverflow post by jkeating
Written by Andrew Druffner andrew@nomstock.com