Find a tool for managing multiple repositories

[ylep]

We need a tool that facilitates working with multiple Git repositories. The clone/update process is done by bv_maker sources, but doing actual development requires more functionality:

1. running git status or svn status in every repository (with SVN you could do svn status on the top-level of the source tree)
2. switching multiple repositories to a topic branch (git checkout topic_branch)
3. pushing from multiple repositories simultaneously
4. Have a centralized definition of multiple repositories list that can be used in several local repositories (e.g. when one works on several machines).
5. Take into account Github forks.
6. allow to have several branches (e.g. feature branches) that are updated when the origin branch they are based on is modified.

[feel free to edit this list and add requirements]

[ylep]

vcstool

https://github.com/dirk-thomas/vcstool Not to be confused with vcstools.

Pros

• Usable without any configuration (it will find repositories in the current directory recursively)
• Supports Git and SVN
• Could maybe replace bv_maker sources with its import/export mechanism

Cons

• You need to use the -n/--nested option to use it in a BrainVISA source tree (otherwise it only finds the local SVN repository at the top-level)
• Not available as an official package before Ubuntu 18.04 (but can be installed with pip)

[ylep]

myrepos

http://myrepos.branchable.com/

Pros

• Available as an official package in Ubuntu 16.04

Cons

• Every repository must be configured in a central configuration file (~/.mrconfig) using mr register

[ylep]

Now that we have bv_maker status (introduced in https://github.com/brainvisa/brainvisa-cmake/pull/20) the need for such an ambitious tool does not seem so pressing anymore.