Migrating and pruning repos

Recently I had to put a folder from my app repository into a separate repository on its own. The easiest way was just git init a new repo, copy the directory and git commit it, but I would lose all history up until the move. After fiddling with git and Stack Overflow, I found the solution.

Suppose the structure is like this:

All-in-one repo:
* server
    * code.go
    * code2.go
* iOS
    * code.m
    * code.h
* Android
    * src
        * com
            * cafelinear
                * myapp
                    * Code.java
                    * Code2.java

We want to move the server code into its own repo, so, final result will be like this:

Mobile repo:
* iOS
    * code.m
    * code.h
* Android
    * src
        * com
            * cafelinear
                * myapp
                    * Code.java
                    * Code2.java

Server repo:
* code.go
* code2.go

First, clone the original repository to the new one (the one that will keep just the desired folder) and cd into it:

git clone /path/to/full/repo.git server
cd server

Since this will be a new repo, remove the remote:

git remote rm origin

Remove any tags you don’t want. Mine had a pattern, all started with v (such as v-0.0.1) for all mobile apps. Server code had different tags, making it easier for me:

git tag | grep \^v | xargs git tag -d

Now, the magic:

git filter-branch --tag-name-filter cat --prune-empty --subdirectory-filter server -- --all

What?

git filter-branch is used to (guess what?) filter branches (clap clap clap). It modifies revision history by rewriting the branches in the last parameter, in this case --all. Since we passed subdirectory-filter, it will consider this directory as the root of the new repo (effectively removing all others). Some filters generate empty commits, --prune-empty get rid of them. To update the tags to point to equivalent commits (they’re not exactly the same since some parents are different, so changing sha1), use --tag-name-filter cat (--tag-name-filter asks for a command, in this case, cat).

We got the DeLorean, travelled back in time and rewrote history, but left a dirt directory for us. iOS and Android folders are still there, although as untracked files, let’s get rid of them with:

git add . #to let git be aware of them
git reset --hard #to tell them go away

Delete old refs:

git for-each-ref --format="%(refname)" refs/original/ | xargs -n 1 git update-ref -d

Now force git garbage collector to clean everything:

git reflog expire --expire=now --all
git gc --aggressive --prune=now

Now add your new remote and push to it:

git remote add origin /path/to/new/remote
git push -u origin master

• Git