BYOG - Build Your Own Git

BYOG is a minimal Git-like version control system built in Node.js to help you understand how Git works internally. This project is designed for learning purposes — by reading and running this project, you can see how commits, blobs, and trees are managed under the hood.

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Table of Contents

• Installation
• Usage
• How It Works
• Commands
• Project Structure
• Future Features
• Learning Outcomes

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Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/Abubakar00510/Byog-git_clone

Usage

All BYOG commands are run using:

Windows:

.\byog byog <command> 

Linux / macOS:

./byog byog <command> 

How It Works

BYOG mimics core Git functionality. Here’s an overview of the main components:

1. Repository (repository.js)

• The heart of BYOG. Manages:
  • Initialization (byog init)
  • Staging files (addPath)
  • Creating trees (createTree)
  • Committing changes (commit)
  • Garbage collection (gc)
• Handles branch pointers and HEAD references.

2. Objects (objects/)

• Blob (blob.js) → Stores raw file content.
• Tree (tree.js) → Represents directories and maps file/directory names to hashes.
• Commit (commits.js) → Stores commit metadata: message, timestamp, tree hash, parent commits.
• ByogObject (byogObject.js) → Wrapper for serializing/deserializing objects for storage.

3. Index (indexHandler.js)

• Keeps track of staged files.
• Maps file paths to blob hashes.
• Read/Write operations to persist staging data.

4. Logger (utils/logger.js)

• Provides colored console output for errors, info, and success messages.

5. Object Handling (objectHandler.js)

• Low-level file system operations for storing and loading objects.
• Handles hashing and directory creation for objects.

6. CLI (app.js / byog.bat)

• Parses user commands.
• Invokes Repository methods based on commands (init, add, commit, gc, help).
• Displays outputs to the console.

Workflow Summary

1. Add files → Files are converted to blobs, saved in .byog/objects, and indexed.
2. Commit → Tree objects are created recursively, commit object is stored, and branch updated.
3. Garbage Collection → Removes unreferenced blob objects, keeps commits and trees intact.

Commands

Initialize Repository

.\byog byog init

Output

██████╗ ██╗   ██╗ ██████╗  ██████╗ 
██╔══██╗██║   ██║██╔═══██╗██╔═══██╗
██████╔╝██║   ██║██║   ██║██║   ██║
██╔═══╝ ██║   ██║██║   ██║██║   ██║
██║     ╚██████╔╝╚██████╔╝╚██████╔╝
╚═╝      ╚═════╝  ╚═════╝  ╚═════╝ 

Welcome to BYOG - Build Your Own Git!

Initialized empty Byog repository in C:\Path\To\Repo\.byog

Add Files to Staging

.\byog byog add file1.txt src/index.js

Output:

ℹ️ Added: file1.txt
ℹ️ Added: src/index.js

Commit Staged Changes

.\byog byog commit -m "Initial commit"

Output:

Created Commit <commit-hash> on branch master
Commit complete! All staged changes have been saved.
🔹 Exiting BYOG... See you next time! 🔹

Garbage Collection

.\byog byog gc

Output:

ℹ️ Garbage Collected: C:\Path\To\Repo\.byog\objects\9f\3a...
✅ Garbage collection complete.

Help

.\byog byog help

Output:

BYOG Available Commands

byog init            → Initialize a new repository
byog add <file>      → Stage files for commit
byog commit -m "msg" → Commit staged changes
byog gc             → Garbage collect loose objects

Project Structure

byog/
├── objects/
│ ├── blob.js
│ ├── tree.js
│ ├── commits.js
│ └── byogObject.js
├── utils/
│ └── logger.js
├── .byogignore
├── app.js
├── byog.bat
├── indexHandler.js
├── objectHandler.js
├── README.md
└── repository.js

Future Features

The BYOG project is continuously evolving. Planned features include:

• status → View staged, unstaged, and untracked changes
• checkout → Switch branches or revert to specific commits
• branch → Create, list, and delete branches
• Enhanced logging and error handling
• More Git-like commands to deepen understanding of version control internals

These features aim to make BYOG a more complete learning tool for developers who want to understand Git from the ground up.

Learning Outcomes

By exploring BYOG, developers will learn:

• How Git stores objects (blobs, trees, commits)
• How staging and committing works internally
• How branches and HEAD references are managed
• How to implement a basic version control system from scratch
• How to apply Node.js for filesystem-based projects