Activity Team/Git FAQ
Using gitorious (git.sugarlabs.org)
Help! I suddenly can't connect to Gitorious!
- The OSUOSL, which hosts Gitorious, has an aggressive IP blacklist policy. If you once were able to push but now cannot, send an email to support@osuosl.org requesting that your IP be removed from the blacklist.
To check if the problem is with your key, try:
ssh -v gitorious@git.sugarlabs.org
A successful ssh setup results in a normal response "Need SSH_ORIGINAL_COMMAND" then connection is closed.
How do I create an account on git.sugarlabs.org?
- Register using the link on the upper right menu on the Home Page.
How do I migrate a project to git.sugarlabs.org?
- Please follow the instructions here to first set up your project's entry in Gitorious.
How do I create a new project?
- First set up the project in gitorious as per above.
- Go to your project directory and type:
git init
git add . git commit -a git remote add origin gitorious@git.sugarlabs.org:[your project name]/mainline.git git push origin master
- Hence forth, just use:
git commit git push
- You can also use
git commit -a -m "I am the commit message"
- to avoid opening an editor.
How do I add an additional committer to my project?
- Click on the Repositories Tab of the project page in Gitorious. Click on "Mainline". A link will appear on the right-hand side of the page saying, "Add Committer".
How do I create a fork of an existing project?
- Click on the Repositories Tab of the project page in Gitorious. Click on "Mainline". A link will appear on the right-hand side of the page saying, "Clone repository".
- Note: if you (as maintainer) are making a clone to replace a corrupted mainline on your local machine, you'll need to:
git clone git://git.sugarlabs.org/yourproject/mainline.git
- and update [remote] section
git config remote.origin.url gitorious@git.sugarlabs.org:yourproject/mainline.git
- in the .git/config file, you may have to change:
[remote "origin"] url = git://git.sugarlabs.org/yourproject/yourbranch.git
- to:
[remote "origin"] url = gitorious@git.sugarlabs.org:yourproject/yourbranch.git
How do I request a merge?
- Click on the Repositories Tab of the project page in Gitorious. Click on "Mainline". A link will appear on the right-hand side of the page saying, "Request merge".
What is the difference between a branch and a repository?
When you make a clone of a project on gitorious, it creates a "repository". You can see the list of repositories associated with a project by clicking on the Repository Tab. Branches are clones within a repository (created with git branch and accessed through git checkout). Git merge commands refer to branches, not repositories, so in order to merge a repository back into mainline, you need to pull (fetch followed by merge) it as if it were a patch.
git merge [your repository name] # This won't work
git pull [your project name/[your repository name].git master # This will work
How do I select which branch I am working on?
git checkout master
git checkout sucrose-0.84
How do I merge changes from master into a branch?
git checkout sucrose-0.84 git rebase master
How do I push my branch to gitorious?
Use git push origin <your branch name>
, e.g.,
git push origin sucrose-0.84
See Development_Team/Release#Branching for more details as to when and why you branch.
Patches
How do I generate a patch?
git diff > blah.patch
- or
diff -rup [old] [new]
- or
git format-patch HEAD^
It is preferable that you generate your patch from the root directory of your project.
How do I send a patch to a maintainer?
An easy way to send a complete patch is to commit in git, then do:
git format-patch -s -1 git send-email --to <maintainer> --cc <mailing-list> <filename>
You may need to install git-mail:
sudo yum -y install git-email
You can also generate a merge request on Gitorious from your forked repository to mainline.
How do I send a patch to the Sugar developers?
git send-email --to=sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org 0001*.patch
As a maintainer, how do I merge a patch?
- git-pull does a combination of fetch and merge, so to merge a patch...
git pull git://git.sugarlabs.org/myproject/myproject-clone.git master
Internationalization work flow
The i18n work flow involves an interplay between the Pootle server, where translations are maintained and gitorious, where the master POT files are updated. Note: As a maintainer, you may update the .pot file associated with your project, but never update .po files. These are updated for you in the i18n work flow.
How do I get translations for my project?
- Use the gettext mechanism for your stings.
- Use
python setup.py genpot
to generate a .pot file for your project. - Fill a ticket requesting that your POT file be added to Pootle. Assign the ticket to "Localization".
- Add User Pootle to the list of committers on your project.
How do I stay in sync with translations being pushed from the Pootle server?
- Periodically—in my experience, on Fridays—updates to the project .po files are pushed from the Localization team.
- Use
git-pull
to periodically pull these updates to the local copy of your project.
- Also, run
python setup.py fix_manifest
to update the .mo files after updating the .po files
- Note: After every major release, a new branch is created on the Pootle server, e.g., Fructose-0.82 and Fructose-0.84. The Localization team may push translations to any or all of the corresponding branches of your project. Changes to your master branch are not necessarily intended for the release branches.
How do my string changes get into Pootle?
Any changes to your project's .pot file are daily pulled into Pootle from git. All you have to do as a developer is make to regenerate your pot file whenever you make string changes.
setup.py genpot git commit po/Myproject.pot -m "new strings" git push
Misc.
What if my project has a binary blob?
- You may have to use the --force flag.
git push -fv
How do I update the Tag field in Gitorious?
git tag -m "Release 36" v36 HEAD git push --tags
How can I get commit access behind firewall?
- If you are behind a firewall and need only Read-Only access to git.sugarlabs.org, you can use HTTP links, like
http://git.sugarlabs.org/git/<project>/mainline.git
- But if you need commit access, you'll have to set up an SSH proxy tunnel. One option is using Tor. So, install all requirements:
- You don't need any special configs for this software (in case of Tor, if your distribution makes some smart pre-configurations, just remove /etc/tor/torrc).
- Setup your tunnel in SSH. Add the following lines to your ~/.ssh/config
Host git.sugarlabs.org User gitorious ProxyCommand /usr/bin/connect -S 127.0.0.1:9050 git.sugarlabs.org 22
- Then start Tor, you can just run it on behalf of your account
tor
- Then do the regular stuff you can do without any firewalls.
- NOTE: If you use Tor on a regular basis, please consider the possibility of helping Tor by donating your bandwidth.
Why are my commits not visible on git.sugarlabs.org event pages?
Check that your email address on git.sugarlabs.org account page is the same like in global git settings or in local repository setting (if you set user.email once):
git config user.email
New activity maintainer walkthrough
Here's an IRC session recording the very first steps of new activity maintainer learning how to merge patches: