How to use Alfresco as a Git Repository?
Git is a free & open source, Distributed Version Control and Source Code Management (SCM) System designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. More info about Git: http://git-scm.com/about
GitHub is a web-based hosting service for software development projects that use the Git revision control system. It offers both paid plans for private repositories, and free accounts for open source projects.
GitHub’s public repository is free and accessible to the world, while private repository is paid and accessible to only those users to whom you want to share your project. More info on GitHub: https://github.com/
Here, we will use Alfresco as a private git repository, create projects, and share those projects to users (using Groups and Permissions).
For this, we have to configure CIFS in Alfresco.
1) Add the following properties in /alfresco/tomcat/shared/classes/alfresco-global.properties file.
#------------------------------
# CIFS Configuration
#------------------------------
cifs.enabled=true
cifs.serverName=${localname}A
#Pointing Root Path to "Company_Home's children". By default it points to "Sites' children".
#protocols.rootPath=/${spaces.company_home.childname}/${spaces.sites.childname}
protocols.rootPath=/${spaces.company_home.childname}
2) Start Alfresco tomcat.
3) Map a network drive say (Z:\) on Windows with Alfresco.
Drive: Z:
Folder: \\DepakKeshwaniA\Alfresco
Username: admin
Password: admin
4) Now, Open a Git Bash Terminal on (Z:\) drive and execute the following commands.
5) Create a folder in Alfresco say "SampleProject.git" that you want to make it as a software project. This project will act as a private remote git repository, which can be shared with users in Alfresco.
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /Z
$ mkdir GitRepo
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /Z
$ cd GitRepo
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /Z/GitRepo
$ mkdir SampleProject.git
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /Z/GitRepo
$ cd SampleProject.git/
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /Z/GitRepo/SampleProject.git
$ ls -ltr
-rwxr-xr-x 1 deepak.k Administ 393216 Jan 9 23:09 __ShowDetails.exe
-rwxr-xr-x 1 deepak.k Administ 393216 Jan 9 23:09 __CheckInOut.exe
-rw-r--r-- 1 deepak.k Administ 131 Jan 9 23:09 __Alfresco.url
The above files are CIFS related files and not a part of Git Repository.
6) Now, we have to create a central repository using "git init --bare" command, which will be shared with all team members in your project. This will be a remote repository created on Alfresco.
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /Z/GitRepo/SampleProject.git
$ git init --bare
Initialized empty Git repository in z:/GitRepo/SampleProject.git/
You have now a remote git repository in place.
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /Z/GitRepo/SampleProject.git (BARE:master)
$ ls -ltr
-rwxr-xr-x 1 deepak.k Administ 393216 Jan 9 23:09 __ShowDetails.exe
-rwxr-xr-x 1 deepak.k Administ 393216 Jan 9 23:09 __CheckInOut.exe
-rw-r--r-- 1 deepak.k Administ 131 Jan 9 23:09 __Alfresco.url
drwxr-xr-x 1 deepak.k Administ 0 Jan 9 23:18 refs
-rw-r--r-- 1 deepak.k Administ 73 Jan 9 23:18 description
drwxr-xr-x 1 deepak.k Administ 0 Jan 9 23:19 hooks
drwxr-xr-x 1 deepak.k Administ 0 Jan 9 23:19 info
-rw-r--r-- 1 deepak.k Administ 23 Jan 9 23:19 HEAD
-rw-r--r-- 1 deepak.k Administ 81 Jan 9 23:19 config
drwxr-xr-x 1 deepak.k Administ 0 Jan 9 23:25 objects
Next, we will create one Software project on our local machine, commit that project into a local git repository, and finally add that newly created "remote" repository to our local git repository.
7) Open Git Bash Terminal on (E:\) drive and execute the following commands:
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E
$ mkdir SampleProject
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E
$ cd SampleProject/
8) Create an empty local git repository.
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject
$ git init
Initialized empty Git repository in e:/SampleProject/.git/
The above command creates a hidden .git folder.
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject
$ ls -altr
drwxr-xr-x 53 deepak.k Administ 0 Jan 9 23:20 ..
drwxr-xr-x 4 deepak.k Administ 0 Jan 9 23:23 .
drwxr-xr-x 12 deepak.k Administ 0 Jan 9 23:25 .git
You can check what configuration settings are there in .git/config file.
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject (master)
$ cat .git/config
[core]
repositoryformatversion = 0
filemode = false
bare = false
logallrefupdates = true
symlinks = false
ignorecase = true
hideDotFiles = dotGitOnly
9) This step will add locally the previously created remote Git repository.
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject (master)
$ git remote add origin file://Z:/GitRepo/SampleProject.git/
Git can transfer data between two repositories via file://, ssh://, git:// and https:// protocols.
Here, we will use local file:// protocol as we have mapped the Alfresco Repository on our local (Z:\) drive using CIFS.
You can check what has been added to .git/config file.
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject (master)
$ cat .git/config
[core]
repositoryformatversion = 0
filemode = false
bare = false
logallrefupdates = true
symlinks = false
ignorecase = true
hideDotFiles = dotGitOnly
[remote "origin"]
url = file://z:/GitRepo/SampleProject.git/
fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
Now, you can use the usual Git Lifecycle.
And can add, commit all your files locally, and "push to origin", which will push your code files to your central Git repository on Alfresco.
You can check which branch is active.
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject (master)
$ git branch -a
* master
10) Create project folder structure and add some code/resource files to it.
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject (master)
$ mkdir src
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject (master)
$ cd src/
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject/src (master)
$ cat > ReadMe.txt
This is a source folder. All your code files go here.
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject/src (master)
$ ls -ltr
total 1
-rw-r--r-- 1 deepak.k Administ 25 Jan 9 23:28 ReadMe.txt
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject/src (master)
$ cd ..
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject (master)
$ git status
# On branch master
#
# Initial commit
#
# Untracked files:
# (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
#
# src/
Nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject (master)
$ git add .
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject (master)
$ git commit -m "readme file commit"
[master (root-commit) 2227d96] readme file commit
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
create mode 100644 src/ReadMe.txt
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject (master)
$ git push origin master
Counting objects: 4, done.
Writing objects: 100% (4/4), 288 bytes, done.
Total 4 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
Unpacking objects: 100% (4/4), done.
To file://z:/GitRepo/SampleProject.git/
* [new branch] master -> master
NOTE: If you are logged in as a different user (not “admin”) through CIFS on Alfresco then, make sure you have Read/Write/Edit/Delete permissions on that project space in Alfresco. Else you will get an error while pushing the code to remote repository.
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject (master)
$ git push origin master
Counting objects: 6, done.
Delta compression using up to 2 threads.
Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
Writing objects: 100% (5/5), 545 bytes, done.
Total 5 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
error: insufficient permission for adding an object to repository database ./objects
fatal: failed to write object
error: unpack failed: unpack-objects abnormal exit
To file://Z:/GitRepo/SampleProject.git
! [remote rejected] master -> master (n/a (unpacker error))
error: failed to push some refs to 'file://Z:/GitRepo/SampleProject.git'
You can check remote-tracking branches and local branches by following command.
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject (master)
$ git branch -a
* master
remotes/origin/master
deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject (master)
$ git status
# On branch master
nothing to commit (working directory clean)
