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I'd like to know if the following is possible with git and if it is - how:

  1. Fork a repository from somewhere on the internet (let's say git.debian.org).

  2. Put this forked code on a local gitosis server, where a group of people will work on it separately by cloning it from the local gitosis server.

  3. Keep this local repository synced with the internet repository (by doing some kind of "pull" from time to time and merging the changes/features that will come from the internet community).

  4. At a certain stage to be able to merge the code that was developed on the local gitosis server to the internet repository (provided that the permission to do that will be granted).

Thanks.

yurker
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2 Answers2

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First, use gitolite instead of gitosis. Gitosis is no longer actively maintained.

  1. Fork the repo in Github.
  2. Clone it locally.
  3. Add a repo to gitolite/gitosis.
  4. Add a remote to your local repo that you cloned to point to the gitolite one.
  5. You can push and fetch to/from either one now.
  6. Issue a pull request when you finally want to contribute something to the repo you forked from.
Adam Dymitruk
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  • I tried this, I did the following: 1) git clone git://git.debian.org/~edmonds/unbound.git 2) git remote add my ssh://git@my_gitosis_server_ip/unbound.git 3) git checkout -b my_master 4) git push my my_master And I got this error: ERROR:gitosis.serve.main:Repository read access denied fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly – yurker Feb 10 '12 at 15:24
  • check that you have configured gitosis to take your public key (use gitolite instead if you can). Check that the casing in your url is correct. – Adam Dymitruk Feb 10 '12 at 18:54
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What you should be doing is this.

1) Cloning the server to a local gitosis server. 2) Making a branch for your project off of that clone. 3) Everyone works from and retrenches off that branch. 4) Push when allowed to the original project.

This allows for much easier resyncing via rebasing off the master internet repository.

Actually in doing a little research to answer this I found a great resource, you should read through instead.

http://progit.org/book/ch3-5.html

As I said I do not know gitosis, but quickly reviewing a couple websites the process imo would go something like this. When you clone a directory we'll use bootstrap.css front twitter as an example. We'd clone it like so.

git clone https://github.com/twitter/bootstrap.git

This would pull your all the data you'd need to work and use that repository locally. This repository on clone creates a directory called bootstrap. Inside the bootstrap directory is a .git directory this is where git does all it's record keeping. At this point you would take this .git directory and copy it outside of the bootstrap directory ourbootstrap.git and put a copy of it into the directory that gitosis keeps it's their repositories in. At this point I'd move your bootstrap directory to bootstrap.orig. Then from within this directory create your remote server reference for the project. This directory would only be used from this point to rebuse your remote server master branch, but also to merge into the original branch.

Cloning from gitosis is no different from cloning from say git hub. Your team would then clone the repository like so.

git clone https://ourserver.com/ourbootstrap.git

They then interact with this repository as it were the original. Creating branches off of it doing their work, committing and pushing. You would also do your work off of a clone of this branch.

thenetimp
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  • Is there specific location on the gitosis server I should clone to? How do I make the cloned repository (after branching) to become a "gitosis repository", so that the users cloning from gitosis will be able to clone it? – yurker Feb 09 '12 at 20:40
  • I've not used gitosis so I can't answer that. However, all git repositories are clones of other git repositories. I'll explain the cloning process in my answer block as to not flood the comments. Give me a couple minutes – thenetimp Feb 09 '12 at 20:44
  • Thanks, much appretiated. I'll definitely check the link you provided. – yurker Feb 09 '12 at 20:54
  • If it works for you please remember to up vote my answer and approve it. You'll get rep for it and so do I! – thenetimp Feb 09 '12 at 20:56
  • I understand the concept, but I am still trying to understand how make the cloned repository on the gitosis server to be seen by the gitosis users. – yurker Feb 09 '12 at 21:12
  • ok I just added to my answer that's about all the help I can give without installing gitosis – thenetimp Feb 09 '12 at 21:36
  • Thanks. "At this point you would take this .git directory and copy it outside of the bootstrap directory ourbootstrap.git and put a copy of it into the directory that gitosis keeps it's their repositories in." --> I didn't find the directory where gitosis keeps its repositories yet, will keep looking. – yurker Feb 09 '12 at 21:54