GitCCPy - Selective File Copy for FTP Deployment

Overview

In website development, developers often need to upload only changed files to an FTP server. However, most FTP client applications do not include this feature. To address this, I have created a solution using Python.

What does this solution do?

This solution provides a Python script that executes the git diff-tree command to identify changed files. It then copies all changed files into a specified location, allowing developers to upload only those changed files to the FTP server using their preferred FTP client software.

Instructions

Step 1: Create Configuration File

Create a .gitccpy configuration file in the directory where Git is initialized. Below is an example of the content:

LOCAL_PREFIX=specific/path/
DESTINATION_PATH=des/path

• LOCAL_PREFIX: Specifies the directory within the project from which to copy changed files. It can be left empty (e.g., LOCAL_PREFIX=) to copy all changes from the entire project.
• DESTINATION_PATH: Specifies the destination path where the changed files will be copied. This includes creating the necessary containing folders.

Step 2: Usage with Python

Run the script with the following command structure:

python gitccpy.py <commit-id>

• <commit-id>: The commit ID to compare against. The default value is HEAD.

Step 3: Usage with Executable

If you have an executable version of the script, use the following command structure:

gitccpy <commit-id>

• <commit-id>: The commit ID to compare against. The default value is HEAD.

New Features

As of the latest update, the script has the following new features:

• Read All Commits: The script reads all commit IDs from the specified commit ID to HEAD (including the specified commit ID itself) using the git rev-list command and copies all changes of all commits.
• Store Last Commit ID: After copying files, the script stores the HEAD commit ID in a file named .gitccpy.lastcommit.
• Automatic Incremental Updates: The next time you run the gitccpy command without specifying a commit ID, the script reads all commits after the stored last commit ID (excluding the last commit itself).

Example

To copy changed files from a specific directory to the destination path, set the configuration as follows:

LOCAL_PREFIX=src/
DESTINATION_PATH=/var/www/html/

To run the script and copy the changed files based on the latest commit:

python gitccpy.py

Or using the executable:

gitccpy

This will copy all changed files in the src/ directory to the /var/www/html/ directory, preserving the folder structure. After the operation, the HEAD commit ID will be saved in .gitccpy.lastcommit.

To copy changes based on a specific commit ID and update the last commit record:

python gitccpy.py <commit-id>

Or using the executable:

gitccpy <commit-id>

This will copy all changed files from the specified commit ID to HEAD and update the .gitccpy.lastcommit file.

Conclusion

With this script, developers can efficiently upload only the changed files to an FTP server, streamlining the deployment process and saving time.