Package: git-remote-dropbox
git-remote-dropboxgit-remote-dropbox is a transparent bidirectional bridge between Git and
Dropbox. It lets you use a Dropbox folder or a shared folder as a Git remote!This Git remote helper makes Dropbox act like atrue Git remote. It maintainsall guaranteesthat are provided by a traditional Git remote while using
Dropbox as a backing store. This means that it works correctly even when there
are multiple people operating on the repository at once, making it possible to
use a Dropbox shared folder as a Git remote for collaboration.Once the helper is installed, using it is as simple as adding a remote likedropbox:///path/to/repo.To clone repositories in folders or shared folders mounted in your Dropbox, you
can run:gitclone"dropbox:///path/to/repo"To add a remote to an existing local repository, you can run:gitremoteaddorigin"dropbox:///path/to/repo"The repository directory will be created automatically the first time you push.After adding the remote, you can treat it just like a regular Git remote. The
Dropbox-backed remote supports all operations that regular remotes support, and
it provides identical guarantees in terms of atomicity even when there are
concurrent operations, even when using a shared folder.SetupInstall git-remote-dropboxPrerequisites:pythonand matchingpipgitInstall this package withpip install git-remote-dropbox. Usewhich git-remote-dropboxto make sure it's available via$PATH. If not, edit$PATHappropriately.Log in to DropboxRungit dropbox loginand follow the instructions to authenticate with OAuth
and log in to your Dropbox account.SharingThe above gives you a way to create a Git repository on Dropbox and use it from multiple machines that you own. In other words, it's a convenient way to share a remote with your laptop and your desktop.If you want to share with other people, you should explicitly share (e.g. via the Dropbox website) the root folder of the repo with your collaborators. Then they should also install git-remote-dropbox and log inwith their own account.Multiple Accountsgit-remote-dropbox supports using multiple Dropbox accounts. You can have named
accounts withgit dropbox login <username>.These usernames are unrelated
to your Dropbox login; you can choose whatever names you want to organize your
accounts, e.g. "work".You can tell git-remote-dropbox to use a particular account by setting the git
remote URL appropriately, specifying a username like:dropbox://username@/path/to/repo.Repository ManagerIn addition to the git remote helper, git-remote-dropbox comes with an
additional tool to manage your logins and repositories on Dropbox. This tool
can be invoked asgit dropbox.The tool supports the following commands:git dropbox login [username]: log in, either with the default account (no
need to specify a username in remote), or with an alias (for multi-account
support)git dropbox logout [username]: log outgit dropbox show-logins: list logged-in accountsgit dropbox set-head <remote> <branch>: set default branch on the remotegit dropbox version: show versionNotesDo not directly interact with Git repositories in your Dropbox folder -always
use git-remote-dropbox. If you're using the Dropbox client to sync files,
it's a good idea to useselective
syncand disable syncing of the folder containing the repository to avoid any
unexpected conflicts, just in case.git-remote-dropbox does not use the Dropbox desktop client - it uses the API
directly. It does not require that the desktop client is installed.The remote helper does not support shallow cloning.Cloning a repository or fetching a lot of objects produces lots of loose
objects. To save space in the local repository, rungit gc --aggressive.If the remote HEAD (default branch on the remote) is not set, after cloning a
repository from Dropbox, Git will not automatically check out a branch. To
check out a branch, rungit checkout <branch>. To set the default branch on
the remote, use thegit dropboxcommand.FAQWhy shouldn't I keep my Git repository in Dropbox and let the client sync
it?There seem to be a lot of articles on the Internet recommending this as a good
workflow. However, this isnot a good idea! The desktop client is not aware
of how Git manages it's on-disk format, so if there are concurrent changes or
delays in syncing, it's possible to have conflicts that result in a corrupted
Git repository. This may be uncommon with the way the timing works out in the
single user case, but it's still not safe!Why shouldn't I keep a bare Git repository in a Dropbox shared folder, use it
as a folder-based Git remote, and sync it with the desktop client?There seem to be some articles on the Internet suggesting that this is a good
idea. It's not. Using the desktop client to sync a bare Git repository is not
safe. Concurrent changes or delays in syncing can result in a corrupted Git
repository.How can I access / recover my repository from Dropbox without using the
git-remote-dropbox helper?Because git-remote-dropbox uses an on-disk format that's compatible with Git,
accessing your repository without using the helper is easy:Download the repository data (a directory containing theobjectsandrefsdirectories) from Dropbox.Make a new directory and initialize an empty Git repository in the
directory.Overwrite.git/refsand.git/objectsin your newly initialized
repository with the data downloaded from Dropbox (using a command likerm -rf .git/{refs,objects} && cp -r /path/to/data/{refs,objects} .git/).Check out a branch (using a command likegit checkout -f master).Optionally, rungit gc --aggressiveto save disk space in your local
repository.How do I use git-remote-dropbox from behind a proxy server?You can use git-remote-dropbox from behind a proxy server by setting theHTTP_PROXYandHTTPS_PROXYenvironment variables. Seeherefor
more details.DesignTo read about the design of git-remote-dropbox, seeDESIGN.md.
This could be especially useful if you're thinking about contributing to the
project.ContributingDo you have ideas on how to improve git-remote-dropbox? Have a feature request,
bug report, or patch? Great! SeeCONTRIBUTING.mdfor
information on what you can do about that.LicenseCopyright (c) 2015-2022 Anish Athalye. Released under the MIT License. SeeLICENSE.mdfor details.