Gitar

Archive and extract Git repositories based on .gitignore🚀🚀🚀

Description

Gitar is a command-line tool that archives and extracts Git repositories while respecting .gitignore rules.

Archive Mode: Creates a tar archive containing only the files that would be tracked by Git, excluding all files and directories specified in .gitignore. Supports multiple compression formats (gzip, bzip2, xz) and base64 encoding.

Extract Mode: Extracts tar archives (with optional compression) to a specified directory. Features automatic compression detection, cross-platform path handling, and security validation to prevent directory traversal attacks.

Installation

Requirements: Go 1.22 or later

go install github.com/worthies/gitar@latest

Or build from source:

git clone https://github.com/Worthies/Gitar.git
cd Gitar
go build -o gitar

Usage

# Archive mode
gitar [options] <repository-path>

# Extract mode
gitar --extract [options]

Options

Compression Options (works for both archive and extract)

• -z, --gzip: Use gzip compression (default)
• -j, --bzip2: Use bzip2 compression
• -J, --xz: Use xz compression
• --no-compression: No compression (plain tar)
• -b, --base64: Base64 encode (archive) or decode (extract)

Archive Options

• -o, --output <file>: Output archive to file instead of stdout
• --start-ref <ref>: Start Git reference to compare changes from
• --end-ref <ref>: End Git reference to compare changes to (defaults to HEAD)

Extract Options

• -x, --extract: Extract mode: extract archive instead of creating
• -f, --archive <file>: Archive file to extract (use '-' for stdin)
• -C, --directory <dir>: Output directory for extraction (defaults to current directory)

General

• -h, --help: Show help message

Archive Examples

# Archive the current directory to stdout (gzipped tar)
gitar .

# Archive to a specific file
gitar -o my-project.tar.gz /path/to/my-project

# Archive with base64 encoding to stdout
gitar -b .

# Archive with bzip2 compression to file
gitar -j -o archive.tar.bz2 /path/to/repo

# Archive with xz compression
gitar -J -o archive.tar.xz /path/to/repo

# Archive without compression
gitar --no-compression -o archive.tar .

# Archive only files changed since main branch
gitar --start-ref main -o changes.tar.gz .

# Archive files changed between two specific commits
gitar --start-ref v1.0.0 --end-ref v2.0.0 -o changes.tar.gz .

Extract Examples

# Extract archive to current directory (auto-detects compression)
gitar -x -f archive.tar.gz

# Extract xz archive (explicit compression type)
gitar -x -J -f archive.tar.xz

# Extract to specific directory
gitar -x -f archive.tar.gz -C /path/to/output

# Extract base64-encoded archive
gitar -x -f archive.b64 -b

# Extract from stdin (defaults to gzip)
cat archive.tar.gz | gitar -x

# Extract bzip2 from stdin via pipe
cat archive.tar.bz2 | gitar -x -j

# Extract from stdin (explicit)
cat archive.tar.gz | gitar -x -f -

# Extract from stdin without specifying file
gitar -x < archive.tar.gz

Features

Archive Mode

• ✅ Respects .gitignore patterns (wildcards, directories, specific files)
• ✅ Always excludes the .git directory
• ✅ Excludes the archive file itself from being archived
• ✅ Handles nested directory structures
• ✅ Supports differential archiving (only changed files between refs)
• ✅ Multiple compression formats (gzip, bzip2, xz)
• ✅ Optional base64 encoding

Extract Mode

• ✅ Automatic compression detection from file extension
• ✅ Cross-platform path handling (Windows/Unix)
• ✅ Security: path validation prevents directory traversal attacks
• ✅ Extracts from stdin or file
• ✅ Supports gzip, bzip2, xz, and uncompressed tar
• ✅ Optional base64 decoding
• ✅ Handles symlinks and hard links

Cross-Platform Compatibility

• ✅ Handles archives created on Windows when extracting on Linux
• ✅ Handles archives created on Linux when extracting on Windows
• ✅ Properly converts path separators (\ ↔ /)

License

See LICENSE file for details.