Subject: Re: Pushing a git repository to a new server

From: Michael J Gruber <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2013 09:08:36 +0100

Jeff King venit, vidit, dixit 12.02.2013 21:42:
> On Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 12:28:53PM +0100, Michael J Gruber wrote:
> 
>> I'm not sure providers like GitHub would fancy an interface which allows
>> the programmatic creation of repos (giving a new meaning to "fork
>> bomb"). But I bet you know better ;-)
> 
> You can already do that:
> 
>   http://developer.github.com/v3/repos/#create

Nice.

I knew you knew ;)

> We rate-limit API requests, and I imagine we might do something similar
> with create-over-git. But that is exactly the kind of implementation
> detail that can go into a custom create-repo script.
> 
>> An alternative would be to teach git (the client) about repo types and
>> how to create them. After all, a repo URL "ssh://host/path" gives a
>> clear indication that "ssh host git init path" will create a repo.
> 
> But that's the point of a microformat. It _doesn't_ always work, because
> the server may not allow arbitrary commands, or may have special
> requirements on top of the "init". You can make the microformat be "git
> init path", and servers can intercept calls to "git init" and translate
> them into custom magic. But I think the world is a little simpler if we
> define a new service type (alongside git-upload-pack, git-receive-pack,
> etc), and let clients request it. Then it's clear what the client is
> trying to do, it's easy for servers to hook into it, we can request it
> over http, etc. And it can be extended over time to take more fields
> (like repo description, etc).
> 
> I'm really not suggesting anything drastic. The wrapper case for ssh
> would be as simple as a 3-line shell script which calls "git init" under
> the hood, but it provides one level of indirection that makes
> replacing/hooking it much simpler for servers. So the parts that are in
> stock git would not be much work (most of the work would be on _calling_
> it, but that is the same for adding a call to "git init").
> 
> I think the main reason the idea hasn't gone anywhere is that nobody
> really cares _that_ much. People just don't create repositories that
> often. I feel like this is one of those topics that comes up once a
> year, and then nothing happens on it, because people just make their
> repo manually and then stop caring about it.
> 
> Just my two cents, of course. :)

Most repos are probably created by a local "git init" or "git clone", or
by clicking a button on a provider's web interface. The need for
git-create-repo seems to be restricted to:

- "command line folks" who use a provider for it's hosting service and
don't fancy a web interface for repo creation

- noobs who need to get their head wrapped around local, remote,
push/pull 'n' stuff...

For the server side git-create-repo to take off we would probably need
two things (besides the client support):

- Implement and ship a git-create-repo which makes this work for git
over ssh seamlessly. (Will take some to trickle down to servers in the
wild.)

- Get a large provider to offer this.

Gitosis/Gitolite are probably to follow easily. I'm beginning to like
idea ;)

Michael