__             _ __       __               
\ \     ____ _(_) /______/ /___  ____  ___ 
 \ \   / __ `/ / __/ ___/ / __ \/ __ \/ _ \
 / /  / /_/ / / /_/ /__/ / /_/ / / / /  __/
/_/   \__, /_/\__/\___/_/\____/_/ /_/\___/ 
     /____/                                

cli tool to clone git repositories in the folder structure implied by the repository url

Concept

There are approximately two types of people:
Those who clone every repository they work on in a directory called git and those who like to keep things organized neatly in a folder structure matching the actual url of the repository. For GitHub.com other GitHub Enterprise instances, this is fairly simple since there is only one layer of depth to the directories. All GitHub repositories are either under a personal account or under a organization account.

---

Folder structure without gitclone:

git
├── gitclone
├── crossbeam
├── angular
├── vue
├── vuex
└── api-template

---

Folder structure with gitclone:

git
└── github.com
    ├── mxcd
    │   ├── api-template
    │   └── gitclone
    ├── vue
    │   ├── vue
    │   └── vuex
    ├── crossbeam-rs
    │   └── crossbeam
    └── angular
        └── angular
  

---

The benefits become even more apparent, when we have to work with multiple GitHub (Enterprise) or GitLab instances. Even more so because GitLab allows the use of nested groups.

Installation

Pre-built binaries

pre-built binaries are available for Linux, MacOS and Windows.

Linux

sudo wget https://github.com/mxcd/gitclone/releases/latest/download/gitclone-linux-amd64 -O /usr/local/bin/gitclone && sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/gitclone

MacOS 11 and newer (amd64)

sudo wget https://github.com/mxcd/gitclone/releases/latest/download/gitclone-macos-11-amd64 -O /usr/local/bin/gitclone && sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/gitclone

MacOS 11 and newer (apple silicon)

sudo wget https://github.com/mxcd/gitclone/releases/latest/download/gitclone-macos-11-apple -O /usr/local/bin/gitclone && sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/gitclone

MacOS 10.15 (amd64)

sudo wget https://github.com/mxcd/gitclone/releases/latest/download/gitclone-macos-10.15-amd64 -O /usr/local/bin/gitclone && sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/gitclone

Windows

Go to the latest release page and download your binary:
https://github.com/mxcd/gitclone/releases/latest
Place it in C:\Windows\System32\gitclone.exe

Build from source

Prequisites

Make sure you have the latest version of rust installed:
https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install

Clone & Build

git clone https://github.com/mxcd/gitclone
cd gitclone
cargo build --release
sudo cp target/release/gitclone /usr/local/bin/gitclone
sudo chmod u+x /usr/local/bin/gitclone

Usage

Initialization

Firstly, the root directory of the git provider needs to be initialized.
Create a directory that will act as the root of your git provider.
We encourage you to name the directory after the provider (e.g. ./github.com) The base URL of the git provider will be prompted.

$ mkdir github.com
$ cd github.com
$ gitclone init
__             _ __       __               
\ \     ____ _(_) /______/ /___  ____  ___ 
 \ \   / __ `/ / __/ ___/ / __ \/ __ \/ _ \
 / /  / /_/ / / /_/ /__/ / /_/ / / / /  __/
/_/   \__, /_/\__/\___/_/\____/_/ /_/\___/ 
     /____/                                

=> Initializing gitclone root

please enter git provider base url including protocol
for https connections: e.g. https://github.com
for ssh connections: e.g. ssh://[email protected]

git provider base url:
https://github.com

input http(s) basic auth credentials. leave blank if not required.
WARNING: credentials will be stored in plain text in the root file. If you are uncomfortable with this please consider using ssh instead.

BasicAuth credentials: username:access-token-or-api-key

$ 

This will create a .gitclone_root.yml file in the directory marking it as root directory for the git provider.

Cloning

gitclone <relative path>

This will clone the repository with respect to the relative path you have to the root directory.

Examples

Cloning from the root directory

$ pwd
/home/user/github.com
$ gitclone mxcd/api-template

This will create the mxcd directory and clone the repository api-template into it.

Cloning from a subdirectory

$ pwd
/home/user/github.com/mxcd
$ gitclone api-template

This will clone the repository api-template from mxcd/api-template into the current directory since you already are in the mxcd directory.

Cloning from within nested subdirectories

$ pwd
/home/user/gitlab.com/some/nested/group
$ gitclone subgroup/my-repo

This will clone the repository my-repo from gitlab.com/some/nested/group/subgroup/my-repo into the ./subgroup/my-repo directory.

License

Licensed under MIT License
Copyright (c) 2022 Max Partenfelder