Batchfetch is a command-line tool designed to clone, fetch, and merge multiple Git repositories simultaneously. With Batchfetch, you no longer need to manually manage each repository one by one. It automates the tedious aspects of repository management, freeing you up to focus on what truly matters: your workflow.
But why use Batchfetch? Because it is extremely fast, cloning repositories quickly by running Git operations in parallel. It intelligently detects whether a git fetch is needed, further speeding up the process of downloading data from repositories. Additionally, it allows specifying the revision (for Git), ensuring that the cloned repository matches the exact version you require.
Batchfetch is ideal for quickly cloning or pulling multiple Git repositories. It is also useful for cloning various addons, such as Vim plugins, Emacs packages, Ansible roles, Ansible collections, and other addons available on websites like GitHub, Codeberg, and GitLab.
Here is how to install batchfetch using pip:
pip install --user batchfetch
The pip command above installs the batchfetch executable in the ~/.local/bin/ directory. Omitting the --user flag will install it system-wide.
Here is an example of a batchfetch.yaml file:
---
tasks:
# Clone the default branch of the general.el repository to the
# './general.el' directory
- git: https://github.com/jamescherti/compile-angel.el
# Clone the tag 1.5 of the consult repository to the './consult'
# directory
- git: https://github.com/jamescherti/outline-indent.el
revision: "1.1.0"
# Clone the s.el repository to the './another-name.el' directory
- git: https://github.com/jamescherti/easysession.el
path: easysession
revision: b9c6d9b6134b4981760893254f804a371ffbc899
# Delete the local copy of the following repository
- git: https://github.com/jamescherti/dir-config.el
delete: trueExecute the batchfetch command from the same directory as batchfetch.yml to make it clone or update the local copies of the repositories above.
Here are the various options that batchfetch provides, along with descriptions of their usage:
usage: batchfetch [--option] [TARGET]
Efficiently clone/pull multiple Git repositories in parallel.
positional arguments:
target This is a target path that batchfetch is supposed to
handle. When no target is specified, execute the tasks
of all target paths defined in the batchfetch.yml list
of tasks.
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-f FILE, --file FILE Specify the batchfetch YAML file (default:
'./batchfetch.yaml').
-C DIRECTORY, --directory DIRECTORY
Change the working directory before reading the
batchfetch.yaml file. If not specified, the directory
is set to the parent directory of the batchfetch.yaml
file.
-j JOBS, --jobs JOBS Run up to N parallel processes (default: 5).
Alternatively, the BATCHFETCH_JOBS environment
variable can be used to configure the number of jobs.
-v, --verbose Enable verbose mode.
-u, --check-untracked
Abort if untracked files or directories exist.
Alternatively, set the BATCHFETCH_CHECK_UNTRACKED=1
environment variable to enable this check.
- Git Clone and Fetch/Merge: Clones the repositories and their submodules, ensuring that all the repositories are always up-to-date by fetching and merging changes.
- Parallel Operations: Utilizes threads to simultaneously Git clone or pull multiple repositories, dramatically reducing wait times.
- User-Friendly Interface: Provides simple and straightforward command-line options that make it easy to get started and effectively manage your repositories.
- Custom Configuration: Allows the use of a YAML configuration file to specify and manage the repositories you interact with, enabling repeatable setups and consistent environments.
- Detect files that should not be present in directories managed by batchfetch, known as untracked files.
The parent directory of the "path:" value defines the managed directory, where the directory of each path is considered as the managed directory.
For example, if the "path:" value is file/my-project, the managed directory will be file/. Any file within file/ that is not managed by batchfetch will be considered an untracked file.
When batchfetch encounters an untracked file, it displays an error message to inform users about paths that are not managed by the system. The message provides clear instructions on how to handle these paths by adding them to the options.ignore_untracked_paths list, enabling users to manage untracked files effectively.
Here is an example of a batchfetch.yaml file that enables batchfetch to accept a list of untracked files:
options:
ignore_untracked_paths:
- ./test
- /absolute/path
- ../relative/path
tasks:
- git: https://github.com/user/projectBy default, batchfetch.yaml is the only untracked file that is ignored. The user does not need to add it to the ignore_untracked_paths option.
When "path:" is specified, that's the path that is used.
When "path:" is not specified, Batchfetch attempts to determine the path name by extracting the repository name from the URI (e.g., https://domain.com/repo becomes repo). If the URL ends with a .git extension, it removes the extension (e.g., https://domain.com/repo.git becomes repo).
Batchfetch is fast, not only because it runs Git commands in parallel, but also because it intelligently detects whether a git fetch is needed, further speeding up the process of downloading data from repositories.
When the user has specifies a revision (branch or commit reference), Batchfetch only performs a git fetch if that revision does not exist locally. If the revision is already up to date, it simply proceeds to the next repository in the queue.
That's why it is highly recommended to always specify the revision to speed up Batchfetch, if speed is important to you. Here is an example of a batchfetch.yaml file where the branch (1.1.0) or commit reference (b9c6d9b6134b4981760893254f804a371ffbc899) is specified:
tasks:
- git: https://github.com/jamescherti/outline-indent.el
revision: "1.1.0"
- git: https://github.com/jamescherti/easysession.el
path: easysession
revision: b9c6d9b6134b4981760893254f804a371ffbc899To execute a command both before and after a specific task, you can define the exec_before and exec_after directives within the task configuration. These directives specify commands to be executed at the respective stages of the task lifecycle.
Here is an example:
---
tasks:
- git: https://github.com/jamescherti/easysession.el
path: easysession
exec_before: ["sh", "-c", "echo exec_before_task"]
exec_after: ["sh", "-c", "echo exec_after_task"]To configure batchfetch to handle a specific path, you can define your tasks in a batchfetch.yml file and pass the desired path as an argument to the batchfetch command.
In the following example, the easysession task clones two Git repositories:
---
tasks:
- git: https://github.com/jamescherti/easysession.el
path: easysession
- git: https://github.com/jamescherti/outline-indent.el
revision: "1.1.0"To make batchfetch clone only easysession, pass its path as an argument:
batchfetch easysessionThis will execute only the task corresponding to the easysession path, skipping all others in the batchfetch.yml file.
Copyright (C) 2024 James Cherti
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
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