Automated Git Sync via Cron

Automated Git Sync via Cron | Generated by AI

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To automatically sync updates from one laptop’s Git pushes to another laptop’s clone of the same repo (without manual git pull), you can’t rely on Git alone for real-time “automatic” updates across machines—Git is pull-based by design. However, you can set up a scheduled task on the second laptop to periodically fetch and merge changes from the remote (GitHub in your case). This is the simplest, reliable way for a personal setup like yours.

Here’s how to do it on your Mac (since you’re using a MacBook Air). We’ll use cron for scheduling, as it’s built-in and lightweight. Assume both laptops have clones of github.com:lzwjava/blog-source, and you’re on the main branch.

Step 1: Ensure the Second Laptop’s Repo is Set Up Correctly

On the second laptop:

Navigate to your repo: cd /path/to/blog-source
Make sure it tracks the remote: git remote -v (should show origin as your GitHub repo).
If not, add it: git remote add origin git@github.com:lzwjava/blog-source.git
Fetch current state: git fetch origin
Switch to main: git checkout main
Set upstream: git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/main main

Test a manual pull: git pull origin main. It should work like your output.

Step 2: Create a Script for Automated Pull

Create a simple shell script to handle the pull safely (it fetches, checks for conflicts, and pulls if clean).

In your repo root, create auto-pull.sh:

#!/bin/bash
cd "$(dirname "$0")"  # Change to repo directory
git fetch origin
if git diff HEAD origin/main --quiet; then
    git pull origin main
    echo "Auto-pull completed: $(date)"
else
    echo "Warning: Local changes detected. Skipping pull. Resolve manually: $(date)"
    # Optional: Send email or notification (see below)
fi

Make it executable: chmod +x auto-pull.sh

This script:

Fetches updates without merging.
Checks if your local branch is clean (no uncommitted changes).
Pulls only if safe; otherwise, warns you.

Step 3: Schedule It with Cron

Cron runs jobs periodically. We’ll run it every 5 minutes (adjust as needed; e.g., hourly).

Open crontab editor: crontab -e (use nano if prompted: nano ~/.crontab).
Add this line at the end (for every 5 minutes):
```
*/5 * * * * /path/to/blog-source/auto-pull.sh >> /path/to/blog-source/pull-log.txt 2>&1
```
- Replace /path/to/blog-source with your actual repo path (e.g., ~/blog-source).
- The >> pull-log.txt logs output to a file for debugging.
Save and exit (Ctrl+O, Enter, Ctrl+X in nano).
Verify: crontab -l (should show your line).
Test: Wait 5 minutes or run crontab -e again to add * * * * * temporarily (every minute), then revert.

Cron runs as your user, so it respects your SSH key for GitHub auth (like in your pull output).

Optional Enhancements

Handle Conflicts/Notifications: If the script detects issues, add a notification. Edit auto-pull.sh to append:

# If warning, send macOS notification
osascript -e 'display notification "Git pull skipped due to local changes" with title "Blog Repo Sync"'

Run on Push (from First Laptop): For more “push-like” sync, use GitHub Actions on the first laptop. Create .github/workflows/sync.yml:

name: Auto Sync
on: [push]
jobs:
  sync:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Notify (e.g., via webhook to second laptop)
        run: curl -X POST https://your-second-laptop-webhook-endpoint  # Set up a simple server on second laptop

But this requires a listener on the second machine (e.g., via ngrok + a tiny Flask app), which is overkill for most cases.

Frequency Trade-offs: Every 5 mins is fine for a blog repo. For real-time, consider tools like watch in a terminal (watch -n 300 git pull), but cron is hands-off.
Proxy Note: Your output shows HTTP/HTTPS proxies—cron will inherit them, so pulls should work as-is.

Now, when you push from the first laptop (git push origin main), the second will sync automatically every 5 mins. Check pull-log.txt for history.

If you run into auth/proxy issues in cron, add export HTTP_PROXY=http://127.0.0.1:7890 etc. to the script. For Windows on the other laptop, use Task Scheduler instead. ```

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