How to migrate all your Git repositores to a new computer?

Have you ever needed to change from an old computer to a new one and needed to manually clone all the Git repositories?

The below script keeps your folder structure and migrates all repositories to a new computer.

dirs=$(find . -name '.git' -type d | sed 's/\/\.git//')

for dir in $dirs; do
  GIT_DIR=$dir/.git

  # Creates the folder structure
  echo mkdir -p $dir;

  # Clones the repository in the same folder
  echo git clone $(git --git-dir=$GIT_DIR remote get-url origin) $dir;

  # Re-adds other remotes
  for r in $(git --git-dir=$GIT_DIR remote | grep -v origin); do
    echo git --git-dir=$GIT_DIR remote add $r $(git --git-dir=$GIT_DIR remote get-url $r);
  done

  echo
done > clone-all.sh

You just need to paste it into a shell session at the base folder where all your repositories are stored. The script creates a file named clone-all.sh. Next, you just need to copy and run this file in the new computer.

Script explanation

The script initially finds all sub-folders that contain a .git folder, which denotes it as a Git repository. From this list it starts to output commands that will be executed in the new computer.

The output commands (for each folder) are these:

• A command to create the folder, keeping the same structure;
• A command to clone the repository, to the same folder name, using the origin remote;
• A command to add the other remotes (different than origin) to the newly cloned repository.

Example

In the old computer, before run the script, the folder structure was this:

➜  pwd
/home/douglas/code

➜  tree -L 2
.
├── create-clone-script.sh
├── other
│   ├── audited_views
│   ├── bitmovin-ruby
│   ├── cucumber-ruby
│   ├── devise-i18n
│   ├── douglaslise.github.io
│   ├── gitlab-ci-monitor
│   ├── rubocop
│   ├── sendgrid-ruby
│   └── summernote
└── private
    ├── ping-monitor
    └── qd

So I pasted the script in the shell and it generated this file clone-all.sh:

➜  cat clone-all.sh           
mkdir -p ./other/bitmovin-ruby
git clone [e-mail]:bitmovin/bitmovin-ruby.git ./other/bitmovin-ruby
git --git-dir=./other/bitmovin-ruby/.git remote add fork [e-mail]:douglaslise/bitmovin-ruby.git

mkdir -p ./other/audited_views
git clone [e-mail]:douglaslise/audited_views.git ./other/audited_views

mkdir -p ./other/cucumber-ruby
git clone [e-mail]:cucumber/cucumber-ruby.git ./other/cucumber-ruby

mkdir -p ./other/rubocop
git clone [e-mail]:rubocop-hq/rubocop ./other/rubocop

mkdir -p ./other/gitlab-ci-monitor
git clone [e-mail]:globocom/gitlab-ci-monitor.git ./other/gitlab-ci-monitor
git --git-dir=./other/gitlab-ci-monitor/.git remote add fork [e-mail]:douglaslise/gitlab-ci-monitor.git

mkdir -p ./other/summernote
git clone [e-mail]:summernote/summernote.git ./other/summernote

mkdir -p ./other/devise-i18n
git clone [e-mail]:tigrish/devise-i18n.git ./other/devise-i18n
git --git-dir=./other/devise-i18n/.git remote add fork [e-mail]:douglaslise/devise-i18n.git

mkdir -p ./other/douglaslise.github.io
git clone [e-mail]:douglaslise/douglaslise.github.io.git ./other/douglaslise.github.io

mkdir -p ./other/sendgrid-ruby
git clone [e-mail]:sendgrid/sendgrid-ruby.git ./other/sendgrid-ruby
git --git-dir=./other/sendgrid-ruby/.git remote add fork [e-mail]:douglaslise/sendgrid-ruby.git

mkdir -p ./private/ping-monitor
git clone ssh://[e-mail]/douglaslise/ping-monitor ./private/ping-monitor
git --git-dir=./private/ping-monitor/.git remote add heroku https://git.heroku.com/pingmonitor.git

mkdir -p ./private/qd
git clone ssh://[e-mail]/douglaslise/qd ./private/qd
➜   

Next, I copied the generated file to the new computer and executed it in the base folder where I wanted to clone all the repositories:

➜  pwd
/home/douglas-new/code

➜  ls
clone-all.sh

➜  sh clone-all.sh
Cloning into './other/bitmovin-ruby'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 56, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (56/56), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (43/43), done.
remote: Total 1707 (delta 21), reused 33 (delta 10), pack-reused 1651
Receiving objects: 100% (1707/1707), 245.62 KiB | 1.00 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (1051/1051), done.

Cloning into './other/audited_views'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 314, done.
remote: Total 314 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 314
Receiving objects: 100% (314/314), 48.93 KiB | 331.00 KiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (81/81), done.

Cloning into './other/cucumber-ruby'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 371, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (371/371), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (203/203), done.
remote: Total 58832 (delta 227), reused 264 (delta 163), pack-reused 58461
Receiving objects: 100% (58832/58832), 11.76 MiB | 4.73 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (40075/40075), done.

Cloning into './other/rubocop'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 11, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (11/11), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (11/11), done.
remote: Total 90142 (delta 0), reused 2 (delta 0), pack-reused 90131
Receiving objects: 100% (90142/90142), 29.81 MiB | 4.98 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (68283/68283), done.

Cloning into './other/gitlab-ci-monitor'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 14, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (14/14), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (13/13), done.
remote: Total 390 (delta 3), reused 3 (delta 0), pack-reused 376
Receiving objects: 100% (390/390), 471.38 KiB | 1.36 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (210/210), done.

Cloning into './other/summernote'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 41, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (41/41), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (36/36), done.
remote: Total 21101 (delta 21), reused 11 (delta 5), pack-reused 21060
Receiving objects: 100% (21101/21101), 13.13 MiB | 4.58 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (13576/13576), done.

Cloning into './other/devise-i18n'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 114, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (114/114), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (79/79), done.
remote: Total 4852 (delta 45), reused 56 (delta 19), pack-reused 4738
Receiving objects: 100% (4852/4852), 1.33 MiB | 2.81 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (2928/2928), done.

Cloning into './other/douglaslise.github.io'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 463, done.
remote: Total 463 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 463
Receiving objects: 100% (463/463), 4.46 MiB | 3.07 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (92/92), done.

Cloning into './other/sendgrid-ruby'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 23, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (23/23), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (17/17), done.
remote: Total 2861 (delta 7), reused 14 (delta 4), pack-reused 2838
Receiving objects: 100% (2861/2861), 680.79 KiB | 1.60 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (1313/1313), done.

Cloning into './private/ping-monitor'...
remote: Counting objects: 490, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (436/436), done.
remote: Total 490 (delta 256), reused 75 (delta 25)
Receiving objects: 100% (490/490), 72.60 KiB | 352.00 KiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (256/256), done.

Cloning into './private/qd'...
remote: Counting objects: 632, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (418/418), done.
remote: Total 632 (delta 288), reused 332 (delta 128)
Receiving objects: 100% (632/632), 151.00 KiB | 322.00 KiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (288/288), done.

Now we can see the newly created structure:

➜  tree -L 2
.
├── clone-all.sh
├── other
│   ├── audited_views
│   ├── bitmovin-ruby
│   ├── cucumber-ruby
│   ├── devise-i18n
│   ├── douglaslise.github.io
│   ├── gitlab-ci-monitor
│   ├── rubocop
│   ├── sendgrid-ruby
│   └── summernote
└── private
    ├── ping-monitor
    └── qd

Conclusion

This could be used to clone all your projects just by copying a unique, small file, without the needing to copy all the files and folders.

If you have suggestions, please let me know in the comments.

Thanks.

Comments

[Fabian Gander]

Thanks for the script, I also wanted to just clone the projects, instead of copying files around.

I converted it into a Powershell script and used it on my windows machine successfully:
gist.github.com/Cyclodex/332802d13...

[SaKKo]

i usually zip the whole project folder and copy to external drive. this is very cool indeed

[jorodrig]

This is very good and useful; however, I found a work around.
On my new Mac, I restored my files via Time Machine backup and all my Git repositories were where they were on the old macbook. The problem was I could no longer PUSH to my Git repo as the id_rsa key was different. I simply followed the GIT instructions to generate new id_rsa key for the new macbook and everything worked fine. I could now simply continue where I left off on the old mac on my new mac.
docs.github.com/en/github/authenti...

Not a pro at this but it worked for me.

[Jason Ormes]

What was your reason for not just rsyncing the whole file structure over?

[Douglas Lise]

Good point. Rsync could be an option, but this script can help when you don't have a good connection with your old computer, or even when you do not know how to rsync them. Another use case is to backup the list of all your repositories. I do not backup them, but I regularly run this script and I store just the clone-all.sh file, so in the case I lost my old computer it will be easy to setup them in a new one.
But yes, rsync could be a great option too.