ghcl: GitHub CLone

Automatically fork, clone, and setup an upstream remote for a GitHub repository. By default, the master branch will track the upstream remote.

Intended as a "quick-start" for contributing to a GitHub repository. More services such as GitLab and BitBucket are coming soon™. The code is ready for multiple services, but the APIs for them haven't been implemented.

This project is licensed under the terms of the MIT license. See LICENSE.txt for more details

Installation

This project requires a libgit2, and cmake for building.

Currently, all methods of installation require building from source, and a working Rust installation. To quickly setup Rust (and Cargo), use rustup.

Through crates.io: cargo install ghcl

Through GitHub:

git clone https://github.com/PlasmaPower/ghcl.git
cd ghcl
cargo build --release
sudo cp target/release/ghcl /usr/bin # or just cargo install, to install for just your user

Arguments

ghcl 0.1.0
Lee Bousfield <email redacted here to prevent spam>
Automatically forks and clones a GitHub repository

USAGE:
    ghcl [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] <REPOSITORY> [CLONE_PATH]

FLAGS:
    -h, --help                 Prints help information
        --no-quiet             Don't be quiet (output status messages)
        --no-track-upstream    Don't setup master to track upstream
        --no-upstream          Don't setup an upstream remote (implies no_track_upstream)
    -q, --quiet                Don't output status messages
        --setup-upstream       Setup an upstream remote (default)
        --track-upstream       Setup master to track upstream (default, imples setup-upstream)
    -V, --version              Prints version information

OPTIONS:
    -c, --config <FILE>                       Sets a custom config file
    -s, --default-service <SERVICE>           The service to be used if the repository is in the form user/repo [values: github, GitHub, Github]
        --fork-timeout <TIMEOUT>              The maximum timeout for the fork creation (default: 30)
    -o, --organization <ORGANIZATION>         Fork into an organization
        --origin-protocol <GIT_PROTOCOL>      The git protocol to use for the origin (default: SSH) [values: ssh, https, SSH, HTTPS]
    -p, --password <PASSWORD>                 Your password (insecure - use a personal access token and put it in your config, or input your password when prompted)
        --remote-name <REMOTE_NAME>           The name of the upstream remote to create (default: "upstream")
        --upstream-protocol <GIT_PROTOCOL>    The git protocol to use for the upstream (default: HTTPS) [values: ssh, https, SSH, HTTPS]
    -u, --username <USERNAME>                 Your username

ARGS:
    <REPOSITORY>    Repository to fork and clone
    <CLONE_PATH>    Where to clone the repository (defaults to the name of the repo)

Config

The config is located in:

Linux: ~/.config/ghcl/config.yml (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ghcl/config.yml)
MacOS: ~/Library/Application Support/ghcl/config.yml
Windows: %APPDATA%\PlasmaPower\ghcl

Contents (all of which are optional, and can be overriden by arguments):

Key	Type/valid values	Description
organization	String	the organization to clone repositories to
track_upstream	bool	should the master branch be setup to track upstream? (if true, setup_upstream cannot be false)
setup_upstream	bool	should the upstream remote be created?
remote_name	String	the name of the upstream remote to create (only used if setup_upstream is true)
origin_protocol	HTTPS or SSH	the protocol to use for the origin remote
upstream_protocol	HTTPS or SSH	the protocol to use for the upstream remote (only used if setup_upstream is true)
default_service	only github for now	the service to use if the repository is in the form of "user/repository"
quiet	bool	should status messages be outputed?
fork_timeout	integer	the maximum total timeout for attempting to clone after a fork
authentication	map - see below	authentication (usually username + password) for each service

Authentication is a map of service (currently only "github") to a username and password. With GitHub, you can (and it's recommended to) use a personal access token with the "repo" permission instead of an actual password. That way, it has limited permissions, and can be easily revoked.

Example config:

organization: myOrg
track_upstream: false
setup_upstream: true
remote_name: my-upstream
origin_protocol: SSH
upstream_protocol: HTTPS
default_service: github
quiet: true
fork_timeout: 30
authentication:
  github:
    username: ExampleUser
    password: efbfd4e43d8e77c1dc24... # personal access token

FAQ

When I use ghcl, it freezes after "Cloning repository..."

That probably means your SSH agent is misconfigured. I'm not sure why it causes a freeze, but to fix it, run ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa, or whatever your GitHub SSH key is. You should also put that in your .profile, or wherever you start ssh-agent.

This program doesn't fit my workflow!

This program is opinionated, and not intended to fit every workflow. However, if it's just a small option that's missing, feel free to create an issue or pull request.