GitHub fork sync

A fork is a copy of a repository. Forking a repository allows you to freely experiment with changes without affecting the original project.

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You might fork a project in order to propose changes to the upstream, or original, repository. In this case, it's good practice to regularly sync your fork with the upstream repository. To do this, you'll need to use Git on the command line. You can practice setting the upstream repository using the same octocat/Spoon-Knife repository you just forked!

-- GitHub

Who has the time to manually sync their forks ? Don't waste time, automate this.

GitHub token

First, you need a GitHub token to use their API. The token requires the repo scope (Full control of private repositories). Store it and don't lose it.

Run as a script

export GITHUB_TOKEN=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

python github_fork_sync.py --help
python github_fork_sync.py $UPSTREAM $FORK

Don't hesitate to add this as a cron job to have the sync run periodically.

Run as an AWS Lambda

./aws/cloudformation.sh

# Create the stack
./aws/cloudformation.sh create $S3_BUCKET $S3_KEY $GITHUB_TOKEN

# Add repos to sync
./aws/cloudformation.sh add-sync $UPSTREAM1 $FORK1 $BRANCH1
./aws/cloudformation.sh add-sync $UPSTREAM2 $FORK2 $BRANCH2
./aws/cloudformation.sh add-sync $UPSTREAM3 $FORK3 $BRANCH3

# Delete the stack
./aws/cloudformation.sh delete $S3_BUCKET $S3_KEY

The lambda will be triggered daily for each repo.