add_object_timestamps.rb

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
# This script lives in [working directory]/git_helpers/
# It gets called from a git pre-commit hook.
# It automatically adds timestamp information to max/msp object ids
# if they don't already have a timestamp.
# A start towards intelligent .maxpat merges in git-managed max/msp projects.  

require 'find'
require 'fileutils'

# Use the same string to enrich all new (Untimestamped) id strings in this commit
timestamp_string=Time.now.strftime("%Y%m%d%H%M%S"+Time.now.usec.to_s) 

def enrich_object_ids(path,timestamp_string)
  content = File.read(path)
  insertions_made=false
  if content.gsub!(/obj-(.)"/, 'obj-\1-'+timestamp_string+'"')
    insertions_made=true
  end
  if insertions_made
    File.open(path, 'wb') { |file| file.write(content) }
    p path+(" I enriched object ids with a timestamp!")
  end
end

Find.find('./') do |path|
  if File.basename(path).include?('.maxpat')
    enrich_object_ids(path,timestamp_string)
  end
end

pre_commit

#!/bin/sh
# This lives in [working directory]/.git/hooks/
# To enable this hook, run the following from your working directory:
# chmod 744 .git/hooks/pre-commit

ruby $PWD/git_helpers/add_object_timestamps.rb