Squot

Squeak Object Tracker - Version control for arbitrary objects in Squeak, currently with Git storage

This repository also contains a variant of the FileSystem library, which is an alternative to the FileDirectory API and has replaced the latter in Pharo. However, our version of the FileSystem library descends from the last version of it for Squeak and is not compatible with Pharo's FileSystem classes.

The package that provides Git connectivity for Squot is named Squit. It uses the package FileSystem-Git (also included here) to browse and manipulate Git repositories.

Installation instructions

For Squeak 5.2 (and newer) just evaluate the following snippet:

Installer installGitInfrastructure.

For older images, make sure that you have system updates newer than 2017-03-12. The image's version number should be at about 17037 or higher.

There, install the latest Metacello first. Then, use the following snippet to load Squot and all its dependencies:

Metacello new
  baseline: 'Squot';
  repository: 'github://hpi-swa/Squot:master/src';
  load.

Usage instructions

After installing Squot, you will find a "Git Browser" in the Apps menu. With this tool you can create projects (in-image working copies) that can contain multiple objects, including packages. Each object is stored at or under a path. When you checkout the Git repository in the file system, an object's path is its relative path in the working copy. From the Git Browser, you can create new commits, synchronize with remote repositories (fetch, pull, push), manage and merge branches, switch between them, and compare different versions.

Internally, Squot uses an ImageStore to remember objects (including packages) that should be tracked. A WorkingCopy combines such a store with a repository, for example a SquitRepository (a Git repository).

Terminology note: Squot is based on an abstraction for version control systems named Pur. It coins the name "Historian" for label-based branches, such as Git's head references.

workingCopy := SquotWorkingCopy new.
workingCopy store: SquotImageStore new.
workingCopy repository:
  (SquitRepository onDirectory: FileSystem disk / 'path' / 'to' / 'your' / 'repository.git').
workingCopy loadedHistorian: (workingCopy repository historianNamed: 'master').
workingCopy add: (PackageInfo named: 'YourPackage') at: 'src'.
workingCopy add: (PackageInfo named: 'AnotherPackage') at: 'src'.
workingCopy add: anyObject at: 'objects/myObject'.
workingCopy saveNewVersionInteractively.
workingCopy loadCurrentVersionInteractively.

Note that Monticello versions will be created in the package cache repository whenever you save a new version (commit) that modifies the code of a package. These were originally for backup purposes until Squot and Squit became sufficiently stable.

Converting Monticello history

A converter and a verifier for the created versions is included.

repository := SquitRepository onDirectory: FileSystem disk / 'path' / 'to' / 'your' / 'repository.git'.
packageName := 'FileSystem-Git'.
historianName := 'refs/heads/import-fsgit'.
SquotMonticelloConverter
  convertUpToLoadedVersionOfPackageNamed: packageName
  asHistorianNamed: historianName in: repository.
SquotMonticelloConverterVerifier
  verifyVersionsOf: (repository historianNamed: historianName)
  ofLoadedPackageNamed: packageName.

Goodies

Because Squot does not yet include a nice visualization of the commit graph, you may want to create a button that opens gitk or another program on the repository.

Here a do-it for Windows users (requires OSProcess):

OSProcess command: 'cmd /C start /D "', (squitRepository gitRepository repository baseDir pathString), '" gitk --all'.