# Git Metafile

A simple tool for storing and restoring complete files metadata (mode, owner, group) in a git repository.
It’s designed especially for versioning /etc.

Metadata is tracked using the `.metafile` file, which is automatically updated and added to commits.
This file is in TSV (tab-separated values) format to be easily readable and diffable.

***Sample .metafile*.**

    #%GIT-METAFILE 1
    # <path>  <mode>    <uid> <gid>
    .gitignore  100644  0   0
    .metafile   100644  0   0
    profile.d   40755   0   0
    shadow  100640  0   42

# Installation

## On Alpine Linux

If you’re using **Alpine Linux**, you can install [git-metafile](https://pkgs.alpinelinux.org/packages?name=git-metafile) package from the Alpine’s community repository:

``` sh
apk add git-metafile
```

## On Arch Linux

If you’re using **Arch Linux**, you can install [git-metafile](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/git-metafile) package from [AUR](https://aur.archlinux.org/):

``` sh
yay -S git-metafile
```

Or use another AUR helper.

## Using cargo

If you’re a **Rust developer**, you can build and install [git-metafile](https://crates.io/crates/git-metafile) from [crates.io](https://crates.io/) using `cargo`:

``` sh
cargo install git-metafile
```

Note that the binary may be bigger than expected because it contains debug symbols.
To remove debug symbols and therefore reduce the file size, run `strip` on the binary.

## Using pre-built binary

If your package manager doesn’t provide git-metafile, you can use a pre-built binary.

On Linux, you can choose either a statically linked \[1\] **(static)** binary that should work on every Linux system (distro), or, if you’re using a sufficient recent GNU/libc-based **(glibc)** distro (most major distros), a dynamically linked binary.

> 🐧 **Linux (static)**:
> [\[x86\_64\]](https://github.com/jirutka/git-metafile/releases/download/v0.2.3/git-metafile-0.2.3-x86_64-linux.tar.gz)
> [\[aarch64\]](https://github.com/jirutka/git-metafile/releases/download/v0.2.3/git-metafile-0.2.3-aarch64-linux.tar.gz)
> [\[armv7\]](https://github.com/jirutka/git-metafile/releases/download/v0.2.3/git-metafile-0.2.3-armv7-linux.tar.gz)  
> 🐧 **Linux (glibc)**: 
> [\[x86\_64\]](https://github.com/jirutka/git-metafile/releases/download/v0.2.3/git-metafile-0.2.3-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz)
> [\[ppc64le\]](https://github.com/jirutka/git-metafile/releases/download/v0.2.3/git-metafile-0.2.3-powerpc64le-linux-gnu.tar.gz)
> [\[riscv64gc\]](https://github.com/jirutka/git-metafile/releases/download/v0.2.3/git-metafile-0.2.3-riscv64gc-linux-gnu.tar.gz)  
>  **macOS**:
> [\[x86\_64\]](https://github.com/jirutka/git-metafile/releases/download/v0.2.3/git-metafile-0.2.3-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz)

1.  Install git (use your system’s package manager).

2.  Download and extract release tarball for your OS and CPU architecture (pick the right link from the list above):
    
    ``` sh
    curl -sSLO https://github.com/jirutka/git-metafile/releases/download/v0.2.3/git-metafile-0.2.3-x86_64-linux.tar.gz
    curl -sSL https://github.com/jirutka/git-metafile/releases/download/v0.2.3/checksums.txt | sha256sum -c --ignore-missing
    tar -xzf git-metafile-0.2.3-*.tar.gz
    ```

3.  Install `git-metafile` somewhere on your `PATH`, e.g. `/usr/local/bin`:
    
    ``` sh
    install -m 755 git-metafile-0.2.3-*/git-metafile /usr/local/bin/
    ```

## From source tarball

1.  Install git (use your system’s package manager).

2.  Download and unpack the tarball:
    
    ``` sh
    wget https://github.com/jirutka/git-metafile/archive/v0.2.3/git-metafile-0.2.3.tar.gz
    tar -xzf git-metafile-0.2.3.tar.gz
    cd git-metafile-0.2.3
    ```

3.  Build git-metafile using cargo:
    
    ``` sh
    cargo build --release --locked
    ```

4.  Grab the binary from `target/release/git-metafile` and install it somewhere on your `PATH`, e.g. `/usr/local/bin`:
    
    ``` sh
    install -D -m755 target/release/git-metafile -t /usr/local/bin/
    ```

# How to use

To automatically record files attributes on every commit and restore them on every checkout, set up git hooks:

``` sh
cat >> .git/hooks/pre-commit <<EOF
#!/bin/sh

git-metafile save && git add .metafile
EOF

chmod +x .git/hooks/pre-commit

cat >> .git/hooks/post-checkout <<EOF
#!/bin/sh

git-metafile apply
EOF

chmod +x .git/hooks/post-checkout
ln -s post-checkout .git/hooks/post-rewrite
```

This should work for all basic operations, so you don’t need to think about it anymore.
However, you have to be careful when rebasing – no hook is run when git checkouts files during rebase and *before* committing changes done in rebase mode\!

To record changes or restore files attributes manually, you can run `git metafile save` or `git metafile apply` respectively.

# License

This project is licensed under [MIT License](http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT/).
For the full text of the license, see the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file.

1.  Statically linked with [musl libc](http://www.musl-libc.org/)