extract git history from only a few files

README.md

install git extract

1. clone this repository

   git clone https://gist.github.com/wookietreiber/290e909a39cf7a02c8e89290e6fc4fed git-extract
   

2. make git-extract script available to your shell

   mkdir -p ~/bin
   cp git-extract/git-extract.sh ~/bin/git-extract
   chmod +x ~/bin/git-extract

   point your PATH to ~/bin (default in most distros)

workflow

1. create a fresh clone of the repository

   git clone repo
   

2. run git extract on the files you want

   git extract file.a file.b file.c
   

   this rewrites the complete history and keeps only the commits that changes the files you specified

3. clean up old git references

   git for-each-ref --format="%(refname)" refs/original/ |
   xargs -n 1 git update-ref -d
   

4. (optional) rewrite commit messages

   git rebase -i --root
   

   replace pick with reword because in interactive rebase you will see only the first line of the commit message. if you don't want to change the message just close the editor without changing the text.

5. remove remote

   git remote remove origin
   

6. create new remote (use GitHub, GitLab or whatever)

7. add new remote

   git remote add origin repo
   

8. push to new remote

   git push -u origin repo
   

git-extract.sh

#!/bin/bash

git filter-branch --prune-empty --index-filter "

git read-tree --empty
git reset \$GIT_COMMIT -- $*

" -- --all -- "$@"