2020-11-19 02:25:33 +00:00
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---
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2020-11-19 02:31:17 +00:00
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date: "2020-11-18T18:31:15-08:00"
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2020-11-19 02:25:33 +00:00
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outputs:
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- html
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- gemtext
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tags:
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- git
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- foss
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title: "Resilient Git, Part 1: Hydra Hosting"
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---
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This is Part 1 of a series called [Resilient
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Git](../../../2020/11/17/git-workflow-0.html).
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The most important part of a project is its code. Resilient projects should have
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their code in multiple places of equal weight so that work continues normally if a
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single remote goes down.
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Many projects already do something similar: they have one "primary" remote and
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several mirrors. I'm suggesting something different. Treating a remote as a "mirror"
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implies that the remote is a second-class citizen. Mirrors are often out of date and
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aren't usually the preferred place to fetch code. Instead of setting up a primary
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remote and mirrors, I propose **hydra hosting:** setting up multiple primary remotes
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of equal status and pushing to/fetching from them in parallel.
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Having multiple primary remotes of equal status might sound like a bad idea. If there
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are multiple remotes, how do people know which one to use? Where do they file bug
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reports, get code, or send patches? Do maintainers need to check multiple places?
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No. Of course not. A good distributed system should automatically keep its nodes in
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sync to avoid the hassle of checking multiple places for updates.
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## Adding remotes
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This process should pretty straightforward. You can run `git remote add` (see
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`git-remote(1)`) or edit your repo's `.git/config` directly:
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``` gitconfig
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[remote "origin"]
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url = git@git.sr.ht:~seirdy/seirdy.one
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fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
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[remote "gl_upstream"]
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url = git@gitlab.com:seirdy/seirdy.one.git
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fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/gl_upstream/*
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[remote "gh_upstream"]
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url = git@github.com:seirdy/seirdy.one.git
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fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/gh_upstream/*
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```
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If that's too much work--a perfectly understandable complaint--automating the process
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is trivial. Here's [an example from my
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dotfiles](https://git.sr.ht/~seirdy/dotfiles/tree/master/Executables/shell-scripts/bin/git-remote-setup).
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## Seamless pushing and pulling
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Having multiple remotes is fine, but pushing to and fetching from all of them can be
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slow. Two simple git aliases fix that:
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``` gitconfig
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[alias]
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pushall = !git remote | grep -E 'origin|upstream' | xargs -L1 -P 0 git push --all --follow-tags
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fetchall = !git remote | grep -E 'origin|upstream' | xargs -L1 -P 0 git fetch
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```
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Now, `git pushall` and `git fetchall` will push to and fetch from all remotes in
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parallel, respectively. Only one remote needs to be online for project members to
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keep working.
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## Advertising remotes
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I'd recommend advertising at least three remotes in your README: your personal
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favorite and two determined by popularity. Tell users to run `git remote set-url` to
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switch remote locations if one goes down.
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## Before you ask...
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Q: Why not use a cloud service to automate mirroring?
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A: Such a setup depends upon the cloud service and a primary repo for that service to
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watch, defeating the purpose (resiliency). Hydra hosting automates this without
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introducing new tools, dependencies, or closed platforms to the mix.
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Q: What about issues, patches, etc.?
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A: Stay tuned for Part 3, coming soon to a weblog/gemlog near you™.
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Q: Why did you call this "hydra hosting"?
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A: It's a reference to the Hydra of Lerna from Greek Mythology, famous for keeping
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its brain in a nested RAID array to protect against disk failures and beheading. It
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could also be a reference to a fictional organization of the same name from Marvel
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Comics named after the Greek monster for [similar
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reasons](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=assccoyvntI&t=37) ([direct
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webm](https://seirdy.one/misc/hail_hydra.webm)).
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