_____ _ _      ____
 |   __|_| |_   |    \ ___ ___ ___
 |  |  | |  _|  |  |  | -_| . |_ -|
 |_____|_|_|    |____/|___|  _|___|
                          |_|

git-deps (and jj-deps) is a Git submodule alternative that simplifies working with multi-repository projects, and resolves some of the problems with git submodules, in particular:

• Ensures that your clones always succeed, even if your dependencies are not available anymore: checking out a repository will never fail when the source repository has moved. This loose coupling makes working with git-deps more resilient than git submodule

• Works with both git and jj

Quick start

In your repository create a .gitdeps (or .jjdeps) file that keeps track of your dependencies:

# LOCAL PATH | GIT REPOSITORY | TRACKED_BRANCH_OR_COMMIT | SPECIFIC_COMMIT?
deps/appenv|git@github.com:sebastien/appenv.git|master
deps/git-kv|git@github.com:sebastien/git-kv.git|main

git-deps status will tell you the status of the dependencies, whether they're checked out or not

$ git-deps status
deps/appenv master ok-same
deps/git-kv main ok-same new commits…

To bring your dependencies up to date, do git-deps pull, this will likely succeed, unless you have local changes or have unsynced changes.

deps/appenv|git@github.com:sebastien/appenv.git|master
ok-same
 → [deps/appenv] Pulling master…
From github.com:sebastien/appenv
 * branch            master     -> FETCH_HEAD
Already up to date.

You can try a git-deps push to push your changes (in case you have no local modifications), or alternatively cd into your dependency directory and resolve the problem, typically using a commit of your local modifications and a merge or push, so that a pull is successful.

Whenever you want to save the current state of your dependencies, do git-deps save.

Format

The .git-deps file format is a list of tab or space separated fields:

• Dependency local path, e.g. deps/repo
• Repository URL, e.g. git@github.com:user/repo.git
• Repository branch/tag/commit main
• Optional: specific commit that overrides the previous, e.g. 5fc4a3412

deps/appenv git@github.com:sebastien/appenv.git master  fcbd00e34ba2ba0232f446e8f37ab287426d1094

Roadmap

• Sync and import support
• Nicer colored terminal output
• Test suite covering all functions