Git subtree cheatsheet

1. List all the existing subtrees under current Git repository

Example:

$ git log | grep git-subtree-dir | tr -d ' ' | cut -d ":" -f2 | sort |uniq
Web.UI/Scripts/flot/flot
Web.UI/Scripts/flot/coordinate

2. Add a new subtree folder and associate it to a git repository

There are 2 commands need to be run to associate a subtree folder to a git repository.

Usage: git remote add -f <Name of the sub git repository> <URL of the sub git repository>

Explanation: The -f option will execute fetch operation immediately after adding the new sub repository.

Usage:

git subtree add --prefix=<The new subtree folder path> <Name of the sub git repository> <Branch>

--squash

Explanation: The --squash option will merge all the change of the subtree to a single commit, so that it eliminate the need to pull the whole history of the sub project. The equal sign '=' follows the --prefix can be replaced by a space too.

Example:

$git remote add -f ai https://github.com/aoxu/ai.git   
$git subtree add --prefix=ai ai master --squash

3. Update subtree folder from remote repository

Updating the subtree folder can be done by these 2 commands.

Usage: git fetch <Name of the remote repository> <branch>

Usage:

git subtree pull --prefix=<The subtree folder path> <Name of the remote repository> <Branch>

--squash

Example:

$git fetch ai master
$git subtree pull --prefix=ai ai master --squash

Or updating the subtree folder just by this single command:

Usage: git pull -X subtree=<The subtree folder path> <Name of the remote repository> <Branch>

Example:

$ git pull -X subtree=Web.UI/Scripts/flot/coordinate jquery.flot.coordinate master
From https://github.com/Jeff-Tian/jquery.flot.coordinate.js* branch            master     -> FETCH_HEAD
Already up-to-date.

4. Push from subtree folder to remote repository (Make sure you have the write permission)

Pushing the change of the subtree folder can be done by the following single command.

Usage:

git subtree push --prefix=<The subtree folder path> <Name of the remote repository> <Branch>

Example：

$ git subtree push --prefix=Web.UI/Scripts/flot/coordinate jquery.flot.coordinate master
git push using:  jquery.flot.coordinate master
1/     87 (0)2/     87 (1)3/     87 (2)4/     87 (3)5/     87 (4)6/     87 (5)7/87 (6)8/     87 (7)9/     87 (8)10/     87 (9)11/     87 (10)12/     87 (11
)13/     87 (12)14/     87 (13)15/     87 (14)16/     87 (15)17/     87 (16)18/87 (17)19/     87 (18)20/     87 (19)21/     87 (20)22/     87 (21)23/     8
7 (22)24/     87 (23)25/     87 (24)26/     87 (25)27/     87 (26)28/     87 (27
)29/     87 (28)30/     87 (29)31/     87 (30)32/     87 (31)33/     87 (32)34/87 (33)35/     87 (34)36/     87 (35)37/     87 (36)38/     87 (37)39/     8
7 (38)40/     87 (39)41/     87 (40)42/     87 (41)43/     87 (42)44/     87 (43
)45/     87 (44)46/     87 (45)47/     87 (46)48/     87 (47)49/     87 (48)50/87 (49)51/     87 (50)52/     87 (51)53/     87 (52)54/     87 (53)55/     8
7 (54)56/     87 (55)57/     87 (56)58/     87 (57)59/     87 (58)60/     87 (59
)61/     87 (60)62/     87 (61)63/     87 (62)64/     87 (63)65/     87 (64)66/87 (65)67/     87 (66)68/     87 (67)69/     87 (68)70/     87 (69)71/     8
7 (70)72/     87 (71)73/     87 (72)74/     87 (73)75/     87 (74)76/     87 (75
)77/     87 (76)78/     87 (77)79/     87 (78)80/     87 (79)81/     87 (80)82/87 (81)83/     87 (82)84/     87 (83)85/     87 (84)86/     87 (84)87/     8
7 (85)Username for 'https://github.com': Jeff-Tian
Password for 'https://Jeff-Tian@github.com':
Counting objects: 5, done.
Delta compression using up to 4 threads.
Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 674 bytes, done.
Total 3 (delta 2), reused 0 (delta 0)
To https://github.com/Jeff-Tian/jquery.flot.coordinate.js.git2b45e6b..6cdd58f  
6cdd58f79dba0b0b790e4e051abf7887f2985f8f -> master