38 lines
2 KiB
Markdown
38 lines
2 KiB
Markdown
The `git annex sync` command provides an easy way to keep several
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repositories in sync.
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Often git is used in a centralized fashion with a central bare repository
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which changes are pulled and pushed to using normal git commands.
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That works fine, if you don't mind having a central repository.
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But it can be harder to use git in a fully decentralized fashion, with no
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central repository and still keep repositories in sync with one another.
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You have to remember to pull from each remote, and merge the appropriate
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branch after pulling. It's difficult to *push* to a remote, since git does
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not allow pushes into the currently checked out branch.
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`git annex sync` makes it easier using a scheme devised by Joachim
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Breitner. The idea is to have a branch `synced/master` (actually,
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`synced/$currentbranch`), that is never directly checked out, and serves
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as a drop-point for other repositories to use to push changes.
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When you run `git annex sync`, it merges the `synced/master` branch
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into `master`, receiving anything that's been pushed to it. (If there is a
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conflict in this merge, [[automatic_conflict_resolution]] is used to
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resolve it). Then it fetches from each remote, and merges in any changes that
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have been made to the remotes too. Finally, it updates `synced/master`
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to reflect the new state of `master`, and pushes it out to each of the remotes.
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This way, changes propagate around between repositories as `git annex sync`
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is run on each of them. Every repository does not need to be able to talk
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to every other repository; as long as the graph of repositories is
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connected, and `git annex sync` is run from time to time on each, a given
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change, made anywhere, will eventually reach every other repository.
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The workflow for using `git annex sync` is simple:
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* Make some changes to files in the repository, using `git-annex`,
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or anything else.
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* Run `git annex sync` to save the changes.
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* Next time you're working on a different clone of that repository,
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run `git annex sync` to update it.
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