How to maintain two repositories internal/private and one open-source

open-to-control.md

📖 Managing dual repositories on GitHub

Managing multiple repositories that serve distinct but interconnected purposes can be a challenging task 😓. This scenario is common when an organization wishes to contribute to an open-source project 🌐 while also maintaining an internal space for private collaboration 🔒.

The challenge here lies in keeping these repositories in sync 🔄 without manual intervention, ensuring that changes made to one repository 📁 are accurately reflected in the other 📁.

In this step-by-step tutorial 📃, we'll walk through a use case where a customer wants to contribute to an open-source project 💻 and, at the same time, collaborate internally within their organization 🏢.

We will:

1. Changing the ownership of the existing repository. Follow this steps
2. 🍴 Create a fork of the open-source repository, providing the customer ownership and full control over this copy.
3. 🏗️ Set up an internal repository for private collaboration within the customer's organization.
4. 🤖 Implement GitHub Actions to automatically keep these repositories in sync.

🛠️ Step by step guide

1️⃣ Step 2: Fork the Open-Source Repository

1. 💻 Navigate to the open-source repository on GitHub.
2. ↗️ Click on the "Fork" button at the top-right corner to create a fork of the repository. This will be your customer's copy, where they can have owner-level permissions.

---

2️⃣ Step 3: Create an Internal Repository

1. 📗 Create a new, empty repository in GitHub under your customer's organization account.
2. ⬇️ Clone the forked repository to your local machine.

   git clone [email protected]:YourAccount/ForkedRepo.git

3. 🔗 Add the internal repository as a remote.

   git remote add internal [email protected]:CustomerOrg/InternalRepo.git

4. 🚀 Push all branches and tags to the internal repository.

   git push --all internal
   git push --tags internal

---

3️⃣ Step 4: Configure Syncing Mechanism

1. Create a GitHub Action in the internal repository to automatically push changes to the forked repository.

   # .github/workflows/sync.yml
   name: Sync to Fork
   on:
     push:
       branches:
         - main
   jobs:
     sync:
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
       - run: |
           git remote add fork [email protected]:YourAccount/ForkedRepo.git
           git push fork main

2. 🔁 Similarly, create a GitHub Action in the forked repository to automatically pull changes from the original open-source repository.

   # .github/workflows/pull.yml
   name: Pull from Original
   on:
     schedule:
       - cron: '0 0 * * *'
   jobs:
     pull:
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
       - run: |
           git remote add upstream [email protected]:OriginalAccount/OriginalRepo.git
           git pull upstream main
           git push origin main

---

4️⃣ Step 5: Collaborate and Monitor

1. 👥 Your customer can now collaborate internally on their internal repository.
2. 🔄 Any push to the main branch will automatically get pushed to their forked open-source repository via GitHub Actions.
3. 🕐 Periodically, the forked repository will pull any new changes from the original open-source repository.

---

5️⃣ Step 6: Safeguard

1. 🛡️ Ensure you've set up proper permissions and protection Rulesets on both the internal and forked repositories.
2. 🔍 Review the GitHub Action logs periodically to ensure syncing is working as expected.

By following this guide 📜, you'll set up an efficient workflow ⚙️ for managing dual repositories, making it easier for your customer to contribute to the open-source community ❤️ while keeping internal developments private 🔐.