Automating Github Updates✈️🧑‍💻

When working with Git repositories in R, automating commits and pushes can save time and ensure changes are consistently tracked. The function update_git_hub() simplifies the Git workflow by automating the process of configuring user identity, staging changes, committing, and pushing to GitHub.

Function Overview

The update_git_hub() function performs the following tasks:

1. Configures Git user identity (name and email).

2. Initializes a Git repository if it does not already exist.

3. Stages all changes in the working directory.

4. Displays the current Git status.

5. Commits changes with a user-provided message.

6. Ensures the branch is set to main.

7. Pushes the committed changes to the remote repository.

Implementation

Below is the R function:

update_git_hub <- function(comment = "first commit", user_name = "Your Name", user_email = "your_email@example.com") {

  # Set Git user identity

  system(glue::glue('git config --global user.name "{user_name}"'))

  system(glue::glue('git config --global user.email "{user_email}"'))

  # Initialize Git repository if not already initialized

  if (!file.exists(".git")) {

    system("git init")

  }

  # Add all changes to staging

  system("git add .")

  # Show status of the repository

  system("git status")

  # Commit changes with a message

  system(glue::glue('git commit -m "{comment}"'))

  # Ensure the branch is set to main

  system("git branch -M main")

  # Push changes to the main branch

  system("git push origin main --force")

}

How to Use the Function

Load the Required Library:

Ensure that the glue package is installed and loaded before using the function:

install.packages("glue")

library(glue)

Run the Function:

Call the function with custom parameters:

update_git_hub(comment = "Updated analysis scripts", user_name = "John Kamau", user_email = "john.kamau@example.com")

Expected Outcome

After executing the function, the following will happen:

• If Git is not initialized, it will be set up in the current directory.

• All changes will be staged and committed with the provided comment.

• The main branch will be ensured and the changes will be pushed forcefully to the remote repository.

• The terminal will display the status of the repository.

Considerations

• This function assumes that the repository is already linked to a remote origin.

• Using --force in git push will overwrite changes on the remote branch, so use it carefully.

• Ensure your SSH or HTTPS authentication is properly configured to push changes successfully.

This function is a powerful way to streamline GitHub updates directly from R, making version control seamless within your workflow. 🚀