rewit

rewit is a simple Go CLI tool designed to update the author and committer information in multiple Git repositories.

Features

• Reads an input file in YAML format containing user information and a list of Git repository URLs.
• Generates the input file automatically by fetching repositories from GitHub based on specified criteria.
• Clones each repository.
• Rewrites the commit history to update the author and committer information.
• Force-pushes the changes back to the original repository.
• Allows overriding the input file, user name, and email via command-line flags.

Prerequisites

• Git should be installed and accessible in your PATH.
• An environment variable containing your GitHub token should be set up. The default variable is GITHUB_TOKEN, but this can be overridden with a command-line flag.
• SSH key authentication should be active in the terminal where you run the tool.

Usage

The tool works in two main steps:

1. Generate Configuration File: The initial step generates a configuration file (rewit.yml) containing user information and a list of repositories associated with the GitHub token.

   rewit -genyaml -name="John Doe" -email="john.doe@mail.com"

   This command will:

   • Use the provided name and email for the new commit history.
   • Retrieve the list of repositories associated with the authenticated user.
   • Create a rewit.yml file with the user information and repository URLs.

   Additional flags:

   • -include="substring": Only include repositories containing this substring.
   • -exclude="substring": Exclude repositories containing this substring (takes precedence over include).
   • -token-envar="GITHUB_TOKEN": Use a different environment variable for the GitHub token.

2. Process Repositories: After generating and potentially editing the rewit.yml file, execute the tool to rewrite commit history.

   rewit -do

   This command will:

   • Read the rewit.yml file.
   • Clone each repository listed.
   • Rewrite the commit history to update the author and committer information.
   • Force-push the changes back to the original repository.

Configuration File Format

The configuration file (rewit.yml) is generated in the following YAML format:

user:
  name: John Doe
  email: john.doe@mail.com
repos:
  - git@github.com:user/repo1
  - git@github.com:user/repo2

Example

1. Generate Configuration File:

   rewit -genyaml -name="Jane Doe" -email="jane.doe@mail.com" -include="project" -exclude="archive"

   This will generate a rewit.yml file including repositories that contain "project" in their names and excluding those with "archive".

2. Edit Configuration File (Optional): Open rewit.yml and manually remove any repositories you do not want to process.

3. Process Repositories:

   rewit -do

   This will rewrite the commit history for the repositories listed in rewit.yml.

Notes

• The tool requires console SSH key authentication for pushing changes.

• Please note that the tool cannot operate on archived repositories. If you need to update an archived repository, you must unarchive it first.

• Warning: Rewriting commit history can have significant implications, especially in repositories with multiple collaborators. It is recommended to use this tool only on personal repositories where you are the sole collaborator.

Testing and Future Development

• The tool has been successfully used for personal purposes but still requires some tests.