Method to dl git repos or individual files

python-git-get.py

from sh import ErrorReturnCode, git
from cStringIO import StringIO
import tarfile
def git_get(git_repo, git_branch, git_path, destination_path=".", use_compression=True, verbose=False):
    git_dir = os.path.dirname(git_path)
    git_file = os.path.basename(git_path)
    if git_dir.replace("/", "") == git_file:
        git_file = ''
    if git_dir.replace("/","").strip() == "":
        git_loc = git_branch
    else:
        git_loc = "%s:%s" % (git_branch, git_dir)

    arch_format = "tar"
    arch_mode = "r|"
    if use_compression:
        arch_format = "tar.gz"
        arch_mode = "r|gz"

    archive_str = StringIO()
    try:
        cmd = git.archive(git_loc, git_file, format=arch_format, remote=git_repo)
        logger.debug("Ran cmd=%s" % cmd.ran)
        archive_str = StringIO(cmd.stdout)
    except ErrorReturnCode, e:
        logger.error("Error downloading from git archive.")
        logger.error("cmd=%s" % e.full_cmd)
        logger.error("errmsg=%s" % e.stderr.replace('\n',' '))
        return False
    tar = tarfile.open(fileobj=archive_str, mode=arch_mode)

    for tarinfo in tar:
        desc = "extracting name=" + tarinfo.name + " size=" + str(tarinfo.size)
        if tarinfo.isreg():
            desc = desc + " type=file"
        elif tarinfo.isdir():
            desc = desc + " type=dir"
        else:
            desc = desc + " type=unk"
        logger.debug(desc)
        tar.extract(tarinfo, destination_path)

# USAGE:
git_get("git@github.com:user/repo.git", "HEAD", "/path/to/utility.py", ".")
git_get("git@github.com:user/repo.git", "HEAD", "", "/tmp")