gitwatch

Automatically commit any changes made to a file or directory

$ gitwatch [path/to/file_or_directory]

$ gitwatch -r [remote_name] [path/to/file_or_directory]

$ gitwatch -r [remote_name] -b [branch_name] [path/to/file_or_directory]

gitwatch <repository_path> [<interval_seconds>]

<repository_path>
    The mandatory path to the Git repository that gitwatch will monitor for changes.

[<interval_seconds>]
    An optional numerical value specifying the time interval, in seconds, between checks for changes. If omitted, a common default such as 5 or 10 seconds is used.

gitwatch is a utility designed to continuously monitor a Git repository for file system changes and automatically commit them. It's typically implemented as a simple shell script that polls the specified repository at a regular interval. Its primary use case is during active development, where it ensures that local changes are frequently saved, preventing accidental data loss and creating a granular history. It streamlines the save-and-commit workflow, allowing developers to focus on coding without manual git add and git commit commands. While convenient, it generally uses generic commit messages, making the commit history less descriptive than manually crafted ones.

Frequent Commits: gitwatch typically generates many small, frequent commits, which can clutter the git log with numerous entries.
Generic Messages: Commits are usually made with a default, generic message (e.g., "Automatic commit by gitwatch"), lacking detailed context that a human-crafted message would provide.
Resource Usage: Running continuously, especially with a short interval, consumes system resources (CPU, disk I/O, battery on laptops).
No Intelligent Logic: It only detects file changes and commits; it does not handle branching, merging, or complex Git operations, nor does it discern between significant and trivial changes.

gitwatch is commonly employed in local development environments where a developer wants to automatically save progress without manually performing git add and git commit for every small change. It helps maintain a clean working directory and provides a detailed history of changes as they occur, allowing developers to focus on coding.

While many basic gitwatch scripts use a generic commit message, more advanced or custom implementations might allow for some level of commit message customization, or integrate with other tools to provide more context to the automatic commits.

gitwatch is not an official part of the core Git distribution but rather a popular community-contributed utility. Its development typically stems from individual developers seeking to automate their local commit workflow. It emerged as a practical solution for ensuring frequent saves and creating a continuous, granular commit history, particularly useful for work-in-progress branches or as a simple, automated backup mechanism without requiring explicit manual commits.

git(1), watch(1), inotifywait(1), cron(8)