gitwatch/README.md

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   * [gitwatch](#gitwatch)
      * [What to use it for?](#what-to-use-it-for)
      * [Installation](#installation)
         * [From Source](#from-source)
            * [Update](#update)
         * [bpkg](#bpkg)
         * [Archlinux](#archlinux)
         * [NixOs](#nixos)
            * [As Module](#as-module)
            * [As Package](#as-package)
      * [Requirements](#requirements)
         * [Notes for Mac](#notes-for-mac)
      * [What it does](#what-it-does)
      * [Usage](#usage)
         * [Starting on Boot](#starting-on-boot)
            * [SysVInit](#sysvinit)
            * [systemd](#systemd)
      * [Other Articles](#other-articles)
         * [On the Gitwatch Wiki](#on-the-gitwatch-wiki)
         * [Community Articles](#community-articles)


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# gitwatch

A bash script to watch a file or folder and commit changes to a git repo

## What to use it for?

That's really up to you, but here are some examples:

* **config files**: some programs auto-write their config files, without
  waiting for you to click an 'Apply' button; or even if there is such
  a button, most programs offer you no way of going  back to an earlier
  version of your settings. If you commit your config file(s) to a git repo,
  you can track changes and go back to older versions. This script makes it
  convenient, to have all changes recorded automatically.
* **document files**: if you use an editor that does not have built-in git
  support (or maybe if you don't like the git support it has), you can use
  gitwatch to automatically commit your files when you save them, or combine
  it with the editor's auto-save feature to fully automatically and regularly
  track your changes
* *more stuff!* If you have any other uses, or can think of ones, please let
  us know, and we can add them to this list!

## Installation

`gitwatch` can be installed in various ways.

### From Source

`gitwatch` can be installed from source by simply cloning the repository and
putting the shell script into your `$PATH`. The commands below will do that
for you if `/usr/local/bin` is in your `$PATH`. You may need to invoke
`install` with `sudo`.

```sh
git clone https://github.com/gitwatch/gitwatch.git
cd gitwatch
[sudo] install -b gitwatch.sh /usr/local/bin/gitwatch
```

#### Update

If you installed `gitwatch` from source, you can update it by following the
exact same steps (or `git pull` rather than clone if you kept the repository
around).

### bpkg

`gitwatch` can be installed with [bpkg](https://github.com/bpkg/bpkg). Make
sure you have [bpkg](https://github.com/bpkg/bpkg) installed before running
the command below. You may need to invoke `bpkg` with `sudo` when using the
`-g` flag.

```sh
[sudo] bpkg install -g gitwatch/gitwatch
```

### Archlinux

There is an [AUR](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/gitwatch-git/) package
for Archlinux. Install it with you favorite aur helper.

### NixOs

#### As Module

If you add `gitwatch` to your flake, and append field `gitwatch.modules` to
your `nixosSystem` modules, then you can enable `services.gitwatch.*`:

```nix
services.gitwatch.<service name> = {
    enable = true;
    path = "/home/me/my-repo";
    remote = "git@github.com:me/my-repo.git";
    user = "me";
};
```

This will make NixOS to create `systemd` service named `gitwatch-<service name>`.
Note that the service does not start before reboot, or alternatively if it is
started manually: `systemctl start gitwatch-<service name>`.

#### As Package

You can to play around with nix package inside this repository. Call `nix run`
in this repository to run `gitwatch` script or `nix shell` to enter shell with
`gitwatch` command available.

## Requirements

To run this script, you must have installed and globally available:

* `git` ([git/git](https://github.com/git/git) | [git-scm](http://www.git-scm.com))
* `inotifywait` (part of **[inotify-tools](https://github.com/rvoicilas/inotify-tools)**)

### Notes for Mac

If running on OS X, you'll need to install the following Homebrew tools:

```sh
brew install fswatch
brew install coreutils
```

## What it does

When you start the script, it prepares some variables and checks if the file
or directory given as input really exists.

Then it goes into the main loop (which will run forever, until the script is
forcefully stopped/killed), which will:

* watch for changes to the file/directory using `inotifywait` (`inotifywait`
  will block until something happens)
* wait 2 seconds
* case file:
  * `cd` into the directory containing the file (because `git` likes to operate locally)
  * `git add <file>`
  * `git commit -m "Scripted auto-commit on change (<date>)"`
* case directory:
  * `cd` into the directory  (because `git` likes to operate locally)
  * `git add --all .`
  * `git commit -m "Scripted auto-commit on change (<date>)"`
* if a remote is defined (with `-r`) do a push after the commit (a specific
  branch can be selected with `-b`)

Notes:

* the waiting period of 2 sec is added to allow for several changes to be
  written out completely before committing; depending on how fast the script
  is executed, this might otherwise cause race conditions when watching
  a folder
* currently, folders are always watched recursively

## Usage

`gitwatch.sh [-r <remote> [-b <branch>]] <file or directory to watch>`

It is expected that the watched file/directory are already in a git repository
(the script will not create a repository). If a folder is being watched, this
will be watched fully recursively; this also means that all files and
sub-folders added and removed from the directory will always be added and
removed in the next commit. The `.git` folder will be excluded from the
`inotifywait` call so changes to it will not cause unnecessary triggering of
the script.

If you have any large files in your repository that are changing frequently,
you might wish to ignore them with a `.gitignore` file.

### Starting on Boot

If you want to have the script auto-started upon boot, the method to do this
depends on your operating system and distribution. If you have a GUI dialog to
set up startup launches, you might want to use that, so you can more easily
find and change the startup script calls later on.

Please also note that if either of the paths involved (script or target)
contains spaces or special characters, you need to escape them accordingly; if
you don't know how to do that, the internet will help you, or feel free to ask
here or contact me directly.

#### SysVInit

A central place to put startup scripts on Linux is generally `/etc/rc.local`
(to my knowledge; only tested and confirmed on Ubuntu). This file, if it has
the +x bit, will be executed upon startup, **by the root user account**. If
you want to start `gitwatch` from `rc.local`, the recommended way to call it
is:

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`su -c "/absolute/path/to/script/gitwatch.sh /absolute/path/to/watched/file/or/folder" -l <username> &`
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The `<username>` bit should be replaced with your username or that of any
other (non-root) user account; it only needs write-access to the git
repository of the file/folder you want to watch. The ampersand (`&`) at the
end sends the launched process into the background (this is important if you
have other calls in `rc.local` after the mentioned line, because the
`gitwatch` call does not usually return).

#### systemd

* If installed to a path other than `/usr/local/bin/gitwatch`, modify
  `gitwatch@.service` to suit
* Create dir if it does not exist and copy systemd service file with `mkdir -p
  "$HOME/.config/systemd/user" && cp gitwatch@.service
  $HOME/.config/systemd/user`
* Start and enable the service for a given path by running `systemctl --user
  --now enable gitwatch@$(systemd-escape "'-r url/to/repository'
  /path/to/folder").service`

## Other Articles

### On the Gitwatch Wiki

* [How to Install `Gitwatch` as a Debian Service With `supervisord`](https://github.com/gitwatch/gitwatch/wiki/gitwatch-as-a-service-on-Debian-with-supervisord)

### Community Articles

* [How To Use `Gitwatch` by Maisa Milena](https://medium.com/@maisa.milena/how-to-use-gitwatch-92c72e8ea4c4)
* [Syncing and Backing Up Your Thoughts with `Obsidian`, `Syncthing`, and `Gitwatch` by Vinícius Costa](https://viniciusnevescosta.medium.com/syncing-and-backing-up-your-thoughts-with-obsidian-syncthing-and-gitwatch-a55670b2b63f)