git-branch-tools

A set of git tools to help manage branches better. Some of the tools use git-config hooks for local customization, have a look at the tools directly.

Archiving branches

Sometimes branches are not actively developed anymore but need to be preserved for posterity. These branches are clogging up the branch view.

git archive-branch mybranch

moves mybranch to archive/2013/mybranch and tags the current top commit with a message containing bits of the branch history.

Showing recent branches

Working on many branches can mean you forget which branch you worked on last week, or the week before.

git recent-branches

lists the various branches checked out over the history, including the date and last commit date on that branch.

Example:

next                                          4 hours ago          last commit 6 days ago
server-1.13-branch                            4 hours ago          last commit 2 weeks ago
touch-grab-race-condition-56578-v2            3 days ago           last commit 3 days ago
touch-grab-race-condition-56578               4 days ago           last commit 6 days ago      †
bug/xts-segfaults                             6 days ago           last commit 6 days ago      †
master                                        6 days ago           last commit 3 weeks ago
for-keith                                     10 days ago          last commit 2 weeks ago
memleak                                       13 days ago          last commit 2 weeks ago

Dependencies

git-recent-branches requires GitPython: http://pythonhosted.org/GitPython/

Better branch descriptions

Can't remember what branch "fix-race-condition" was? Me neither. That's what

git branch-description [branchname] [upstream]

will tell you. If upstream is given, it'll also show you what has been merged into upstream already (by patch, not by commit).

And install the git-post-checkout-nagging-hook as your .git/hooks/post-checkout to make sure you get reminded to set the branch description.

Creating patch sets

A wrapper around git-format-patch, that drops the patches into a directory named after the patch set and date.

$> git patch-set origin/master..HEAD~2
$> ls patches
patches/patches-2013-08-30-10:47-origin\master..HEAD~2/
patches/latest -> patches/patches-2013-08-30-10:47-origin\master..HEAD~2/

patches/latest always links to the last generated patcheset.

Note: git-patch-set will run the pre-push hook (if any). Ideally, you'll have a pre-push hook that runs make check, so you never send out patches that haven't at least be built and tested.

$> cat .git/hooks/pre-push
cat ~/code/libevdev/.git/hooks/pre-push
#!/bin/bash
set -e
echo "running make check"
make check

Splitting commits

During rebase, when you realise that a commit needs to be broken up into two. $> git rebase -i

mark commit to split as "edit"

$> git split-commit

The tool now calls git add -p, letting you add the hunks needed (and/or missing files). Finish up, it will re-commit with the same message and drop you back to the shell to finish up and continue. Alternatively,

$> git split-commit --after will drop you into a shell immediately, letting you git add and commit anything you want committed before the current commit. Exiting the shell will commit the rest.

Squashing commits

git config's rebase.autosquash enables automatic re-ordering and squashing of commits starting with "squash!" or "fixup!", followed by a subject line that matches an earlier commit.

git-squash is a wrapper script around that to make it easier to remember. $> git add myfile yourfile $> git squash [1] this is the most recent commit [2] previos commit [3] some other commit [4] a commit message Number to squash in: 3

Arguments passed to git-squash will be passed to git-commit.

dhanunjaya/git-branch-tools