How to Setup and Use Multiple Git Repositories for One Single Project

• On Github for issues tracking
• On Heroku for production
• On Some Other Git repo

Here is the step-by-step instruction on setting up a project to sync with multiple git repositories. For example, we will take multiple repositories: one on Github and another on Heroku.

But before we go forward and discuss how to set up and use multiple Git repositories, let’s quickly go through the reasons why we need to do so.

You may need to use multiple Git repositories where the codebase is too big and hence cannot be maintained from one single repository. When we say big, it can reach a size of petabytes! That’s why it is necessary to use multiple Git repositories.

Another big benefit that comes with using multiple repositories is that it can make teamwork efficient without the need to depend on each other. This means that they can work independently and work faster than ever.

However, there are obvious challenges that come with managing multiple repositories for a single project. These challenges include the following:

• Managing dependencies across repos;
• Understanding and finding reliable truth sources;
• Managing and enforcing workflows;
• Reviewing changes that are made via Git pull requests;
• Resolving conflicts;
• Making rollbacks and changes using repos sync;
• Finding a source of truth that is reliable;
• Identifying repos that have uncommitted changes;
• Enforcing workflows can be a challenge as well.

What we have for this tutorial:

1. First clone your project from one of these repositories like this:

2. Clone the repository from Github:

git clone git@github.com:my-company/my-project.git

3. Open the folder with the cloned project:

[core]
repositoryformatversion = 0
filemode = true
bare = false
logallrefupdates = true
[remote "origin"]
url = git@github.com:my-company/my-project.git
fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
[branch "master"]
remote = origin
merge = refs/heads/master

• make changes in the code of the project;
• use git add command to add changed/updated files as usual;
• make a commit using git commit command as usual;
• push code changes to the first repository: git push github master ;
• then push code changes to the second repository: git push heroku master.

Other ways to manage and work with multiple Git Repository

The above method works, but you can also opt for other ways to work with multiple Git Repositories. These methods include the following:

• Using Git Submodules
• Multiple Git Repositories With Repo
• Using Gita
• Using Perforce to manage multiple Git repositories within one project

Using Git Submodules

One of the easiest ways to manage multiple repositories is to use Git Submodule. But what is a submodule?

Submodule helps you to embed a foreign git repository content to yours. This way, you can work on a big project and also ensure that versions work as intended. Submodules easies the process by ensuring that a submodule only works on locked versions. So in case you need to work on a new version, you simply need to update the module and then do commit to the outer repository.

There are obviously pros and cons of the approach. The pros include the ability to do atomic commits. You can also take advantage of tools that come with the default Git install.

But what about the cons? Well, one big risk is a security risk. In this approach, it is possible to change configurations and execute code remotely. For now, the vulnerabilities have been fixed, but it does showcase. Other cons include a learning curve and additional setup.

Multiple Git Repositories With Repo

Repo is another useful utility that you can use to manage multiple repositories. It is used for one of the most popular codebase repo: Android. The repo helps you to work on modules or functionalities that you can think are worth your time.

The advantage of Repo is that it is well documented, and it works with Gerrit. The downside is that it works for one workflow and hence is not an ideal pick for alternate workflow designs.

Using Gita

What if you could have a convenient command-line tool that you can use to check and track the status of multiple git repos and make necessary changes.

Gita is a command-line tool that is made to manage git repos.

There are two primary features:

1. You can display the status of multiple git repos. You can view branches, modifications, commit messages, etc. side by side.
2. You can delegate git commands or aliases and shell commands on repos from any working directory in a batch.

Some basic commands that you can use in Gita are:

• `gita add <repo-paths>` – used to add repos
• `gita ll` – display information about the repos
• `gita <cmd> <repo-name>` – delegate commands

To kick it up a notch, you can use the following intermediate commands:

• `gita group` – to group multiple repos together
• `gita context` – used to view context
  • <group-name>
  • Auto
• `gita add -a <folder-name>` – used to make groups automatically
• `gita super` – can be used for any git command
• `gita shell` – used to execute any shell command

Using Perforce to manage multiple Git repositories within one project

The last alternative method that you can use is Perforce. It is a combination of two Git tools that you can use to manage multiple repositories within one project.

The two tools are HelixTeamHub and Helix4Git Do. Here, HelixTeamHub lets you work with multiple repositories, whereas the developers can use Helix4Git to contribute to the sub-projects or repositories.

Perforce works great with projects as it offers benefits such as a single source of truth, global scale, faster builds, IP protection, and replication. The only cons that it has included is admin expertise.

   

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