NAME

gu - Some additional command-line utilities for git

VERSION

This document describes version 0.090 of gu (from Perl distribution App-GitUtils), released on 2025-09-24.

SYNOPSIS

gu --help (or -h, -?)

SUBCOMMANDS

clone-to-bare

Clone repository to a bare repository.

dir

Get the path to the .git directory.

Basically just the git_dir information from gu info. Useful in shell scripts.

du-committing

Calculate the total sizes of files to add/delete/modify.

To be used in pre-commit script, for example.

Some applications: Github limits commit total size to 2GB.

du-untracked

Check the disk usage of untracked files.

This routine basically just grabs the list of untracked files returned by status() (gu status) then checks their disk usage and totals them.

info

Return information about git repository.

Information include:

Path of the git directory
Repository name
Current/active branch

Will return status 412 if working directory is not inside a git repository. Will return status 500 on errors, e.g. if git command cannot recognize the repository.

ls-committing-large

Check that added/modified files in staged/unstaged do not exceed a certain size.

Will return an enveloped result with payload true containing added/modified files in staged/unstaged that are larger than a certain specified max_size.

To be used in a pre-commit script, for example.

Some applications: Github for example warns when a file is above 50MB and rejects when a file is above 100MB in size.

post-commit

Run post-commit hook.

Basically the same as:

% .git/hooks/post-commit

except can be done anywhere inside git repo.

pre-commit

Run pre-commit hook.

Basically the same as:

% .git/hooks/pre-commit

except can be done anywhere inside git repo.

rh

Alias for run-hook.

Basically the same as:

% .git/hooks/<hook-name>

except can be done anywhere inside git repo and provides tab completion.

run-hook

Run a hook.

Basically the same as:

% .git/hooks/<hook-name>

except can be done anywhere inside git repo and provides tab completion.

split-commit-add-untracked

Commit untracked files, possibly over several commits, keeping commit size under certain limit.

status

Run `git status` and return information as a data structure.

Currently incomplete!

OPTIONS

* marks required options.

Common options

--cmd=s

Select subcommand.

This is useful if a default subcommand exists, where that subcommand will be chosen if user does not specify another explicitly.

--config-path=s, -c

Set path to configuration file.

Can actually be specified multiple times to instruct application to read from multiple configuration files (and merge them).

--config-profile=s, -P

Set configuration profile to use.

A single configuration file can contain profiles, i.e. alternative sets of values that can be selected. For example:

[profile=dev]
username=foo
pass=beaver

[profile=production]
username=bar
pass=honey

When you specify --config-profile=dev, username will be set to foo and password to beaver. When you specify --config-profile=production, username will be set to bar and password to honey.

--debug

Shortcut for --log-level=debug.

--format=s

Choose output format, e.g. json, text.

Default value:

undef

Output can be displayed in multiple formats, and a suitable default format is chosen depending on the application and/or whether output destination is interactive terminal (i.e. whether output is piped). This option specifically chooses an output format.

--help, -h, -?

Display help message and exit.

--json

Set output format to json.

--log-level=s

Set log level.

By default, these log levels are available (in order of increasing level of importance, from least important to most): trace, debug, info, warn/warning, error, fatal. By default, the level is usually set to warn, which means that log statements with level info and less important levels will not be shown. To increase verbosity, choose info, debug, or trace.

For more details on log level and logging, as well as how new logging levels can be defined or existing ones modified, see Log::ger.

--naked-res

When outputing as JSON, strip result envelope.

Default value:

By default, when outputing as JSON, the full enveloped result is returned, e.g.:

[200,"OK",[1,2,3],{"func.extra"=>4}]

The reason is so you can get the status (1st element), status message (2nd element) as well as result metadata/extra result (4th element) instead of just the result (3rd element). However, sometimes you want just the result, e.g. when you want to pipe the result for more post-processing. In this case you can use --naked-res so you just get:

[1,2,3]

--no-config, -C

Do not use any configuration file.

If you specify --no-config, the application will not read any configuration file.

--no-env

Do not read environment for default options.

If you specify --no-env, the application wil not read any environment variable.

--page-result

Filter output through a pager.

This option will pipe the output to a specified pager program. If pager program is not specified, a suitable default e.g. less is chosen.

--quiet

Shortcut for --log-level=error.

--subcommands

List available subcommands.

--trace

Shortcut for --log-level=trace.

--verbose

Shortcut for --log-level=info.

--version, -v

Display program's version and exit.

--view-result

View output using a viewer.

This option will first save the output to a temporary file, then open a viewer program to view the temporary file. If a viewer program is not chosen, a suitable default, e.g. the browser, is chosen.

Options for subcommand clone-to-bare

--dir=s

A directory inside git repo.

If not specified, will assume current directory is inside git repository and will search .git upwards.

--target-dir=s

Target repo directory.

If not specified, defaults to $repodir.bare/.

Options for subcommand dir

--dir=s

A directory inside git repo.

If not specified, will assume current directory is inside git repository and will search .git upwards.

Options for subcommand du-committing

--exclude-untracked

(No description)

-U

Do not include untracked files.

See --exclude-untracked.

-u

Include untracked files (the default).

See --exclude-untracked.

Options for subcommand du-untracked

--detail, -l: (No description)

Options for subcommand info

--dir=s

A directory inside git repo.

If not specified, will assume current directory is inside git repository and will search .git upwards.

Options for subcommand ls-committing-large

--exclude-untracked

(No description)

--max-size=s, -s

Default value:

104856576

Can also be specified as the 1st command-line argument.

-U

Do not include untracked files.

See --exclude-untracked.

-u

Include untracked files (the default).

See --exclude-untracked.

Options for subcommand post-commit

--dir=s

A directory inside git repo.

If not specified, will assume current directory is inside git repository and will search .git upwards.

Options for subcommand pre-commit

--dir=s

A directory inside git repo.

If not specified, will assume current directory is inside git repository and will search .git upwards.

Options for subcommand rh

--dir=s

A directory inside git repo.

If not specified, will assume current directory is inside git repository and will search .git upwards.

--name=s*

Hook name, e.g. post-commit.

Can also be specified as the 1st command-line argument.

Options for subcommand run-hook

--dir=s

A directory inside git repo.

If not specified, will assume current directory is inside git repository and will search .git upwards.

--name=s*

Hook name, e.g. post-commit.

Can also be specified as the 1st command-line argument.

Options for subcommand split-commit-add-untracked

--max-size=s, -s

Default value:

2146435072

Can also be specified as the 1st command-line argument.

Options for subcommand status

--untracked=s, -u

Untracked files option, will be passed as `-u` option to `git status`.

Default value:

"normal"

Valid values:

["no","normal","all"]

This will be passed to git status in the -u option.

COMPLETION

This script has shell tab completion capability with support for several shells.

bash

To activate bash completion for this script, put:

complete -C gu gu

in your bash startup (e.g. ~/.bashrc). Your next shell session will then recognize tab completion for the command. Or, you can also directly execute the line above in your shell to activate immediately.

It is recommended, however, that you install modules using cpanm-shcompgen which can activate shell completion for scripts immediately.

tcsh

To activate tcsh completion for this script, put:

complete gu 'p/*/`gu`/'

in your tcsh startup (e.g. ~/.tcshrc). Your next shell session will then recognize tab completion for the command. Or, you can also directly execute the line above in your shell to activate immediately.

It is also recommended to install shcompgen (see above).

other shells

For fish and zsh, install shcompgen as described above.

CONFIGURATION FILE

This script can read configuration files. Configuration files are in the format of IOD, which is basically INI with some extra features.

By default, these names are searched for configuration filenames (can be changed using --config-path): /home/u1/.config/gu.conf, /home/u1/gu.conf, or /etc/gu.conf.

All found files will be read and merged.

To disable searching for configuration files, pass --no-config.

To put configuration for a certain subcommand only, use a section name like [subcommand=NAME] or [SOMESECTION subcommand=NAME].

You can put multiple profiles in a single file by using section names like [profile=SOMENAME] or [SOMESECTION profile=SOMENAME] or [subcommand=SUBCOMMAND_NAME profile=SOMENAME] or [SOMESECTION subcommand=SUBCOMMAND_NAME profile=SOMENAME]. Those sections will only be read if you specify the matching --config-profile SOMENAME.

You can also put configuration for multiple programs inside a single file, and use filter program=NAME in section names, e.g. [program=NAME ...] or [SOMESECTION program=NAME]. The section will then only be used when the reading program matches.

You can also filter a section by environment variable using the filter env=CONDITION in section names. For example if you only want a section to be read if a certain environment variable is true: [env=SOMEVAR ...] or [SOMESECTION env=SOMEVAR ...]. If you only want a section to be read when the value of an environment variable equals some string: [env=HOSTNAME=blink ...] or [SOMESECTION env=HOSTNAME=blink ...]. If you only want a section to be read when the value of an environment variable does not equal some string: [env=HOSTNAME!=blink ...] or [SOMESECTION env=HOSTNAME!=blink ...]. If you only want a section to be read when the value of an environment variable includes some string: [env=HOSTNAME*=server ...] or [SOMESECTION env=HOSTNAME*=server ...]. If you only want a section to be read when the value of an environment variable does not include some string: [env=HOSTNAME!*=server ...] or [SOMESECTION env=HOSTNAME!*=server ...]. Note that currently due to simplistic parsing, there must not be any whitespace in the value being compared because it marks the beginning of a new section filter or section name.

To load and configure plugins, you can use either the -plugins parameter (e.g. -plugins=DumpArgs or -plugins=DumpArgs@before_validate_args), or use the [plugin=NAME ...] sections, for example:

[plugin=DumpArgs]
-event=before_validate_args
-prio=99

[plugin=Foo]
-event=after_validate_args
arg1=val1
arg2=val2

which is equivalent to setting -plugins=-DumpArgs@before_validate_args@99,-Foo@after_validate_args,arg1,val1,arg2,val2.

List of available configuration parameters:

Common for all subcommands

Configuration for subcommand clone-to-bare

dir (see --dir)
target_dir (see --target-dir)

Configuration for subcommand dir

dir (see --dir)

Configuration for subcommand du-committing

include_untracked (see --exclude-untracked)

Configuration for subcommand du-untracked

detail (see --detail)

Configuration for subcommand info

dir (see --dir)

Configuration for subcommand ls-committing-large

include_untracked (see --exclude-untracked)
max_size (see --max-size)

Configuration for subcommand post-commit

dir (see --dir)

Configuration for subcommand pre-commit

dir (see --dir)

Configuration for subcommand rh

dir (see --dir)
name (see --name)

Configuration for subcommand run-hook

dir (see --dir)
name (see --name)

Configuration for subcommand split-commit-add-untracked

max_size (see --max-size)

Configuration for subcommand status

untracked (see --untracked)

ENVIRONMENT

GU_OPT

String. Specify additional command-line options.

FILES

/home/u1/.config/gu.conf

/home/u1/gu.conf

/etc/gu.conf

EXAMPLES

Getting information

Get some information about the git repository:

% gu info
% gu ; # the default is the 'info' subcommand
+----------------+---------------------------------------+
| key            | value                                 |
+----------------+---------------------------------------+
| current_branch | master                                |
| git_dir        | /home/u1/repos/perl-App-GitUtils/.git |
| repo_name      | perl-App-GitUtils                     |
+----------------+---------------------------------------+

Get the path to the .git directory (basically, only the git_dir information of gu info):

% cd lib; # just to show that we can run 'gu' anywhere inside the repo
% gu dir

git status parsed into data structure form:

% git status
On branch master
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/master'.

Changes not staged for commit:
  (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
  (use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
	modified:   lib/App/GitUtils.pm
	modified:   script/gu

no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")

% gu status
[
   200,
   "OK",
   {
      "branch" : "master",
      "staged" : {
         "deleted" : [],
         "modified" : [],
         "new_files" : []
      },
      "unstaged" : {
         "deleted" : [],
         "modified" : [
            "lib/App/GitUtils.pm",
            "script/gu"
         ],
         "new_files" : []
      },
      "untracked" : []
   },
   {
      "stream" : 0,
      "title" : "gu status"
   }
]

Running hooks

% gu run-hook post-commit
% gu rh pre-commit

Some shortcuts:

% gu post-commit; # shortcut for 'gu rh post-commit'
% gu pre-commit;  # shortcut for 'gu rh pre-commit'

Cloning

% gu clone-to-bare

Deprecated. Basically just git clone --bare.

Subcommand: ls-committing-large

This subcommand lists large files that are being committed. You can do something like this in a `pre-commit` Bash script hook, for example:

# GitHub rejects files over 100MB
if [[ `gu ls-committing-large 100MB` != "" ]]; then
  echo "Cancelling commit, there are files that will be rejected by GitHub"
  exit 1
fi

Subcommand: du-committing

Calculate the size of the commit. You can do something like this in a `pre-commit` Bash script hook, for example:

# GitHub rejects commit size over 2GB
if [[ `gu du-committing` > $[2*1024*1024*1024] ]]; then
  echo "Cancelling commit, too large, will be rejected by GitHub"
  exit 1
fi

Subcommand: split-commit-add-untracked

If you have untracked files with a total size of larger than 2GB, you can split the commit using this subcommand:

% gu split-commit-add-untracked

HOMEPAGE

Please visit the project's homepage at https://metacpan.org/release/App-GitUtils.

SOURCE

Source repository is at https://github.com/perlancar/perl-App-GitUtils.

AUTHOR

perlancar <perlancar@cpan.org>

CONTRIBUTING

To contribute, you can send patches by email/via RT, or send pull requests on GitHub.

Most of the time, you don't need to build the distribution yourself. You can simply modify the code, then test via:

% prove -l

If you want to build the distribution (e.g. to try to install it locally on your system), you can install Dist::Zilla, Dist::Zilla::PluginBundle::Author::PERLANCAR, Pod::Weaver::PluginBundle::Author::PERLANCAR, and sometimes one or two other Dist::Zilla- and/or Pod::Weaver plugins. Any additional steps required beyond that are considered a bug and can be reported to me.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.

BUGS

Please report any bugs or feature requests on the bugtracker website https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=App-GitUtils

When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a patch to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired feature.

To install App::GitUtils, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm App::GitUtils

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install App::GitUtils

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

	Global
`s`	Focus search bar
`?`	Bring up this help dialog

	GitHub
`g` `p`	Go to pull requests
`g` `i`	go to github issues (only if github is preferred repository)

	POD
`g` `a`	Go to author
`g` `c`	Go to changes
`g` `i`	Go to issues
`g` `d`	Go to dist
`g` `r`	Go to repository/SCM
`g` `s`	Go to source
`g` `b`	Go to file browse

	Search terms
module: (e.g. module:Plugin)
distribution: (e.g. distribution:Dancer auth)
author: (e.g. author:SONGMU Redis)
version: (e.g. version:1.00)

NAME

VERSION

SYNOPSIS

SUBCOMMANDS

clone-to-bare

dir

du-committing

du-untracked

info

ls-committing-large

post-commit

pre-commit

rh

run-hook

split-commit-add-untracked

status

OPTIONS

Common options

Options for subcommand clone-to-bare

Options for subcommand dir

Options for subcommand du-committing

Options for subcommand du-untracked

Options for subcommand info

Options for subcommand ls-committing-large

Options for subcommand post-commit

Options for subcommand pre-commit

Options for subcommand rh

Options for subcommand run-hook

Options for subcommand split-commit-add-untracked

Options for subcommand status

COMPLETION

bash

tcsh

other shells

CONFIGURATION FILE

Common for all subcommands

Configuration for subcommand clone-to-bare

Configuration for subcommand dir

Configuration for subcommand du-committing

Configuration for subcommand du-untracked

Configuration for subcommand info

Configuration for subcommand ls-committing-large

Configuration for subcommand post-commit

Configuration for subcommand pre-commit

Configuration for subcommand rh

Configuration for subcommand run-hook

Configuration for subcommand split-commit-add-untracked

Configuration for subcommand status

ENVIRONMENT

GU_OPT

FILES

/home/u1/.config/gu.conf

/home/u1/gu.conf

/etc/gu.conf

EXAMPLES

Getting information

Running hooks

Cloning

Subcommand: ls-committing-large

Subcommand: du-committing

Subcommand: split-commit-add-untracked

HOMEPAGE

SOURCE

AUTHOR

CONTRIBUTING

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

BUGS

Module Install Instructions