Alfresco as git repository

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.

Follow the below steps for configuring CIFS or refer http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/CIFS_Windows.

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.

Download and install Git for Windows from http://git-scm.com/downloads.

 

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.

More info on git init: http://git-scm.com/docs/git-init

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.

More info about transfer protocols: http://git-scm.com/book/ch4-1.html

More info on git remote: http://git-scm.com/docs/git-remote

               

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.

http://git-scm.com/book/ch2-2.html

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 ..

11) Check the working tree status. It shows what all files need to be committed on local repository. http://git-scm.com/docs/git-status

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)

 

12) Adding file contents to the index. http://git-scm.com/docs/git-add

deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject (master)

$ git add .

13) Commit changes to the repository. http://git-scm.com/docs/git-commit

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

14) Push your local refs to remote refs. http://git-scm.com/docs/git-push

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.

More info on git branch: http://git-scm.com/docs/git-branch

deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject (master)

$ git branch -a

* master

  remotes/origin/master

   

Check the working tree status. http://git-scm.com/docs/git-status

deepak.keswani@DEPAKKESHWANI /E/SampleProject (master)

$ git status

# On branch master

nothing to commit (working directory clean)