gitman

Language-agnostic dependency manager using Git

TLDR

Create a sample configuration in the current directory

$ gitman init

Install the versions recorded in the configuration

$ gitman install

Update all dependencies to their latest versions and lock them

$ gitman update

Update one dependency or group

$ gitman update [name]

Update nested dependencies as well

$ gitman update --all

List the currently checked out versions

$ gitman list

Pin a dependency to a specific tag, branch or commit

$ gitman lock [name]@[revision]

Print the path to an installed dependency

$ gitman show [name]

Delete all installed dependencies

$ gitman uninstall

SYNOPSIS

gitman command [options] [names]

gitman manages source dependencies as nested Git repositories, without tying a project to a language or package ecosystem. It is intended as a replacement for Git submodules, with added control over which version of each nested repository is used.Running gitman update moves dependencies to the newest revision allowed by the configuration and records the resulting commit, while gitman install restores the versions already recorded. Together they work like the update and install steps of a lockfile-based package manager. Nested configuration files are processed as well, and post-install scripts run after checkout.

PARAMETERS

--depth=count

Limit traversal of nested dependencies (install, update).

--fetch

Always fetch from the repository instead of only when needed (install).

--clean

Delete untracked files, which are otherwise left alone (install).

--force

Overwrite all changes and ignore post-install script failures (install, update). With uninstall, delete dependencies that contain uncommitted changes.

--force-interactive

Interactively overwrite changes (install, update).

--skip-changes

Skip dependencies that have uncommitted changes (install, update).

--skip-lock

Do not record the exact versions of previously locked dependencies (update).

--all

Also get the latest versions of all nested dependencies (update).

--fail-if-dirty

Exit with an error if there are uncommitted changes (list).

--keep-location

Keep the top-level folder and anything other than the dependencies (uninstall).

--config

Display the path to the configuration file (show).

--log

Display the path to the log file (show).

CONFIGURATION

gitman.yml or .gitman.yml in the root of the working tree holds the project's dependencies.

$ location: vendor/gitman
sources:
  - repo: https://github.com/user/library
    name: library
    rev: v1.2.0
    links:
      - target: lib/library
    scripts:
      - make
default_group: ''
groups: []

location

Directory where dependencies are stored.

sources

List of dependencies. Each has a repo URL, a local name, a rev (commit SHA, tag, branch or rev-parse date), and optional links, scripts and sparse_paths.

groups

Named sets of sources, each with a name and members.

default_group

The group used when none is specified.

COMMANDS

init

Generate a sample configuration file for a new project.

install [names]

Install dependencies, optionally limited to the named sources or groups.

update [names]

Fetch the latest versions of dependencies and record the exact revisions.

list

Display the checked out dependencies and record their versions in the log file.

lock [names]

Record the exact version of each dependency. Accepts name@revision to lock to a commit, or to the latest revision of a tag or branch.

uninstall

Delete all dependencies.

show [name]

Display the path to the dependency storage location, or to a specific dependency.

edit

Open the existing configuration file.

CAVEATS

Requires Python 3.10 or newer and Git 2.8 or newer, with Git credentials stored for any private repositories. Dependencies are real Git working trees, so --force and --clean can discard local work inside them.

RESOURCES

Source code · Documentation