Syncing Specific Folders Between Different GitHub Accounts

Aug 14, 2024

Another Github Action to sync between different accounts.

To synchronize specific folders between repositories belonging to different GitHub accounts (Account A and Account B), you’ll need to set up Personal Access Tokens (PATs) for both accounts and store them as secrets in the respective repositories. Here’s how you can adjust the GitHub Actions workflows to work across two accounts:

Steps to Set Up Syncing Between Two GitHub Accounts

Generate Personal Access Tokens (PATs):
- Account A: Generate a PAT for Account A with the repo scope.
- Account B: Generate a PAT for Account B with the repo scope.
Store PATs as Secrets:
- In Repository A (Account A’s repository):
  - Store Account A’s PAT as a secret named PAT_A.
  - Store Account B’s PAT as a secret named PAT_B.
- In Repository B (Account B’s repository):
  - Store Account B’s PAT as a secret named PAT_B.
  - Store Account A’s PAT as a secret named PAT_A.

Adjusted GitHub Actions Workflows

Make sure you replace the branch name with the correct one for each repository. If your default branch is not main but master , please update the code with the right name.

Workflow for Repository A (Sync `Folder-A1` to `Folder-B1`)

In Repository A’s workflow (repo-a):


# .github/workflows/sync_folder_a1_to_b1.yml
name: Sync Folder-A1 to Folder-B1

on:
  push:
    paths:
      - 'Folder-A1/**'
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  sync:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - name: Checkout Repo A (repo-a)
      uses: actions/checkout@v3
      with:
        token: ${{ secrets.PAT_A }}
        fetch-depth: 0

    - name: Install rsync
      run: sudo apt-get install -y rsync

    - name: Clone Repo B (repo-b)
      run: |
        git clone --branch main https://username-b:${{ secrets.PAT_B }}@github.com/username-b/repo-b.git
        cd repo-b
        git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
        git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"        

    - name: Compare and Sync Folder-A1 to Folder-B1
      run: |
        cd $GITHUB_WORKSPACE
        if git rev-parse HEAD~1 >/dev/null 2>&1; then
          git diff --name-only HEAD~1 -- Folder-A1/ > changed_files.txt
        else
          find Folder-A1 -type f > changed_files.txt
        fi
        cd repo-b
        while IFS= read -r file; do
          if [ -f "../$file" ]; then
            rsync -av --delete "../$file" "Folder-B1/${file#Folder-A1/}"
          else
            rm -f "Folder-B1/${file#Folder-A1/}"
          fi
        done < ../changed_files.txt
        git add Folder-B1
        git commit -m "Sync changes from Folder-A1 to Folder-B1"
        git push origin main        
      env:
        PAT_B: ${{ secrets.PAT_B }}

Workflow for Repository B (Sync `Folder-B1` to `Folder-A1`)

In Repository B’s workflow (repo-b):

# .github/workflows/sync_folder_b1_to_a1.yml
name: Sync Folder-B1 to Folder-A1

on:
  push:
    paths:
      - 'Folder-B1/**'
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  sync:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - name: Checkout Repo B (repo-b)
      uses: actions/checkout@v3
      with:
        token: ${{ secrets.PAT_B }}
        fetch-depth: 0

    - name: Install rsync
      run: sudo apt-get install -y rsync

    - name: Clone Repo A (repo-a)
      run: |
        git clone --branch main https://username-a:${{ secrets.PAT_A }}@github.com/username-a/repo-a.git
        cd repo-a
        git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
        git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"        

    - name: Compare and Sync Folder-B1 to Folder-A1
      run: |
        cd $GITHUB_WORKSPACE
        if git rev-parse HEAD~1 >/dev/null 2>&1; then
          git diff --name-only HEAD~1 -- Folder-B1/ > changed_files.txt
        else
          find Folder-B1 -type f > changed_files.txt
        fi
        cd repo-a
        while IFS= read -r file; do
          if [ -f "../$file" ]; then
            rsync -av --delete "../$file" "Folder-A1/${file#Folder-B1/}"
          else
            rm -f "Folder-A1/${file#Folder-B1/}"
          fi
        done < ../changed_files.txt
        git add Folder-A1
        git commit -m "Sync changes from Folder-B1 to Folder-A1"
        git push origin main        
      env:
        PAT_A: ${{ secrets.PAT_A }}

Key Adjustments

Clone with Authentication: When cloning the other repository, include the username and token in the URL, e.g., https://username-b:${{ secrets.PAT_B }}@github.com/username-b/repo-b.git.
Separate PATs: Use the respective PATs from each account (PAT_A and PAT_B) to authenticate actions in each workflow.

Conclusion

By modifying the GitHub Actions workflows to include authentication details for both GitHub accounts, you can effectively sync specific folders between repositories owned by different users. This setup ensures seamless and secure synchronization across multiple accounts.