Which are the side effects of renaming a Git repository

Question

Say I need to rename a Git repository that has already been downloaded by a number of developers.

If I rename this repository, what side effects would happen, if any? I mean besides the developers having to perform a change in their local repository to change its remote repository like this

git remote set-url origin new_url

For the sake of the argument please consider that the Git server is a private one and all the developers form part of the same company.

For what it's worth, I have checked other questions regarding renaming repositories in Git, but none of them speak specifically about side effects except for the git remote change.

How does renaming a Bitbucket git repository affect forked repositories?

How do I rename a Git repository?

How do I rename a repository on GitHub?

Lilias

Effect of changing the name: the name is changed. Side effect of changing the name: everyone who uses the name has to change it. Who uses the name? URLs, sure, but also local paths embedded in scripts, --references if there are any, and so forth. Find them all and change them, and you're done. Git generally can't help you find them as they're mostly outside Git. It could perhaps help a bit with --reference alternates; it doesn't, though; you have to look for those by hand, if you've used --reference. – Lignify

@torek, thanks for the comment. If that is all there is as side effect, then please post it as an answer and I will accept it. – Lilias

Answer 1

As I said in a comment four days ago, the only real "side effect" of changing a name is that everyone who uses the name has to change their use as well. That's not exactly a side effect, since it's the main effect: you've changed the name!

The more interesting question is therefore: Who uses this name? Some of the answers here are obvious: it's stored in various URLs, typically under various "remotes" like origin:

$ git config --get remote.origin.url
git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/

(this clone predates the public-access ones on GitHub, such as https://github.com/torvalds/linux, or I'd probably use that one). If Linus Torvalds were to rename his Git repository here, I'd have to change the stored URL. But you already called this out yourself.

So: where else might the name of the repository get stored? The only other places I can think of are:

• in various shell scripts and YAML files and so on that, for whatever reason, them stored in them; and
• in --shared and/or --reference clones, which set up what Git calls alternates within a repository.

If you have made such clones, you should check for this. It might be nice if Git had a more convenient way to do it, but basically the existing way to do it is to find all your .git directories and check for objects/info/alternates in them. See also What are the differences between git clone --shared and --reference?

Shell scripts, YAML files, and so forth have many forms and there's no universal way to find them all, though the obvious "grep" style check is obvious. (It could still miss any that got converted to binary with and/or compressed.)

Lignify

Answer 2

Here're some potential side effects to consider.

Remote references: If the repository has remote references (e.g., origin), those references will need to be updated to reflect the new repository name. This includes updating any URLs or references in other clones of the repository.

Collaborator workflows: If there are collaborators or team members working with the repository, they will need to update their local clones and remote references accordingly. This ensures that their local repositories are properly connected to the renamed repository.

CI/CD pipelines: If you have CI/CD pipelines or other automated workflows set up with the repository, they may need to be updated to reflect the new repository name. This includes any scripts or configurations that reference the repository name or URLs.

Links and dependencies: If the repository is linked or referenced by other systems, such as documentation, issue trackers, or dependency managers, those references will need to be updated to reflect the new repository name. Failure to update these references may result in broken links or incorrect dependencies.

Git history and references: Renaming a Git repository does not modify the existing commit history or references. However, when users interact with the renamed repository, they will need to be aware of the new name to ensure they're using the correct repository.

URLs and webhooks: If the repository is integrated with external services, such as webhooks, issue trackers, or project management tools, any URLs or configurations referencing the repository will need to be updated to reflect the new name. Failure to update these configurations may result in broken integrations or incorrect data.

Pye

Answer 3

All of the above answers are true; at the same time, GitHub does a lot of work on their backend to try to lessen the impact of the change. From their doc:

When you rename a repository, all existing information, with the exception of project site URLs, is automatically redirected to the new name, including:

• Issues
• Wikis
• Stars
• Followers

For more information on project sites, see "About GitHub Pages."

In addition to redirecting web traffic, all git clone, git fetch, or git push operations targeting the previous location will continue to function as if made on the new location. However, to reduce confusion, we strongly recommend updating any existing local clones to point to the new repository URL. You can do this by using git remote on the command line:

git remote set-url origin NEW_URL

(Emphasis mine)

There are several other caveats listed on their page, but for the most part, it can be a seamless change with no action needed from repo consumers in the short term. In the long term, it would of course be wise to update all consumers to the new URL.

This of course is specifically for GitHub.com-hosted repos, your mileage may vary with self-hosted GitHub instances (ie legacy On-Prem GitHub Enterprise, although if my memory serves, that had similar behavior as well.)

Glyptic