git-filter-repo/INSTALL.md

Installation via Package Manager

Installation is as easy as

$ PACKAGE_TOOL install git-filter-repo

for those using a package manager to install software on their system from one of the following package repositories:

This list covers at least Windows (Scoop), Mac OS X (Homebrew), and Linux (most the rest). Note that I do not curate this list (and have no interest in doing so); https://repology.org tracks who packages these versions.

Notes for Windows Users

The first hurdle for Windows users is installing a functional version of Python (it has been reported that Windows ships with a stub or stripped down python-like program that just doesn't work). python.org probably has good instructions here, though many users report a preference getting it from the Microsoft Store and seem to be successful with that (particularly since msys2 issue #27 was fixed by the Git for Windows maintainer).

In the past, several users also needed to modify the first line of the git-filter-repo script to change the python path, particularly when installing git-filter-repo using the pip method instead of Scoop, and particularly with older versions of Git for Windows (anything less than 2.32.0.windows.1) as GitBash had an unfortunate shebang length limitation (see git-for-windows issue #3165). Hopefully, this isn't needed anymore.

For additional details (if needed, though be aware these might not be accurate anymore given both git-for-windows and git-filter-repo fixes), see #225, #231, #124, #36, and this git mailing list thread.

Manual Installation

filter-repo only consists of a few files that need to be installed:

• git-filter-repo

  This is the only thing needed for basic use.

  This can be installed in the directory pointed to by git --exec-path, or placed anywhere in $PATH.

  If your python3 executable is named "python" instead of "python3" (this particularly appears to affect a number of Windows users), then you'll also need to modify the first line of git-filter-repo to replace "python3" with "python".

• git_filter_repo.py

  This is needed if you want to make use of one of the scripts in contrib/filter-repo-demos/, or want to write your own script making use of filter-repo as a python library.

  You can create this symlink to (or copy of) git-filter-repo named git_filter_repo.py and place it in your python site packages; python -c "import site; print(site.getsitepackages())" may help you find the appropriate location for your system. Alternatively, you can place this file anywhere within $PYTHONPATH.

• git-filter-repo.1

  This is needed if you want git filter-repo --help to succeed in displaying the manpage, when help.format is "man" (the default on Linux and Mac).

  This can be installed in the directory pointed to by $(git --man-path)/man1/, or placed anywhere in $MANDIR/man1/ where $MANDIR is some entry from $MANPATH.

  Note that git filter-repo -h will show a more limited built-in set of instructions regardless of whether the manpage is installed.

• git-filter-repo.html

  This is needed if you want git filter-repo --help to succeed in displaying the html version of the help, when help.format is set to "html" (the default on Windows).

  This can be installed in the directory pointed to by git --html-path.

  Note that git filter-repo -h will show a more limited built-in set of instructions regardless of whether the html version of help is installed.

So, installation might look something like the following:

1. If you don't have the necessary documentation files (because you are installing from a clone of filter-repo instead of from a tarball) then you can first run:

   make snag_docs

   (which just copies the generated documentation files from the docs branch)

2. Run the following

   cp -a git-filter-repo $(git --exec-path)
   cp -a git-filter-repo.1 $(git --man-path)/man1 && mandb
   cp -a git-filter-repo.html $(git --html-path)
   ln -s $(git --exec-path)/git-filter-repo \
       $(python -c "import site; print(site.getsitepackages()[-1])")/git_filter_repo.py
   

Installation via pip

This method is NOT recommended, because installing via pip does not place the package in your $PATH. If you go this route, you have to copy the file into an appropriate directory (either git --exec-path or something else in $PATH), or modify your $PATH to include the directory where pip places things, but you could have just done that after cloning filter-repo directly so this installation method provides virtually no benefit.

However, some people still prefer installing this way. If you are one of them, you can use:

$ pip3 install git-filter-repo

Installation via Makefile

Installing should be doable by hand, but a Makefile is provided for those that prefer it. However, usage of the Makefile really requires overridding at least a couple of the directories with sane values, e.g.

$ make prefix=/usr pythondir=/usr/lib64/python3.8/site-packages install

Also, the Makefile will not edit the shebang line (the first line) of git-filter-repo if your python executable is not named "python3"; you'll still need to do that yourself.