import-zips

import-zips

[Chris Packham]

Hi,

I found myself in need of a git repository that was built up from zip
files supplied by a 3rd party. I knew about
contrib/fast-import/import-zips.py but saw that it hadn't had a lot of
attention in 13 or so years.

I spend a bit of (AI assisted) time on updating things to python3. The
result is https://github.com/cpackham/import-zips.

I started the repository with a filter-repo of the existing
contrib/fast-import/import-zips.py which does lead me to one question
- what license applies? In the absence of anything else I've taken the
COPYING file from git.git i.e. GPL-2.0

I wasn't sure if there would be any interest in taking the changes
back to git.git/contrib (or if the use of AI would rule that out).
Anyway it's there on my github page if anyone else needs it. If
someone wants me to turn the changes into a series for git.git I'm
happy to do that too.

Regards,
Chris

Re: import-zips

[Junio C Hamano]

Chris Packham <judge.packham@gmail.com> writes:

> I wasn't sure if there would be any interest in taking the changes
> back to git.git/contrib (or if the use of AI would rule that out).
> Anyway it's there on my github page if anyone else needs it. If
> someone wants me to turn the changes into a series for git.git I'm
> happy to do that too.

It is wonderful to hear that a piece of software that has long
been abandonware now has someone who 'cares' much more than
anyone who has touched the 'git.git' tree in years.

I would rather remove unmaintained pieces of software from the
'contrib/' directory, and optionally replace them with a pointer
to the location of a maintained fork.  So, no, I would not want
to be a gatekeeper for that part of the 'contrib/' directory
when I do not have a particular need, interest, or the
expertise to properly maintain it, if I can avoid it.

Re: import-zips

[Chris Packham]

On Tue, Jul 21, 2026 at 12:59 AM Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:
>
> Chris Packham <judge.packham@gmail.com> writes:
>
> > I wasn't sure if there would be any interest in taking the changes
> > back to git.git/contrib (or if the use of AI would rule that out).
> > Anyway it's there on my github page if anyone else needs it. If
> > someone wants me to turn the changes into a series for git.git I'm
> > happy to do that too.
>
> It is wonderful to hear that a piece of software that has long
> been abandonware now has someone who 'cares' much more than
> anyone who has touched the 'git.git' tree in years.
>

'Cares' is a bit strong. More like 'wanted to use it and had some
spare AI tokens'.

> I would rather remove unmaintained pieces of software from the
> 'contrib/' directory, and optionally replace them with a pointer
> to the location of a maintained fork.  So, no, I would not want
> to be a gatekeeper for that part of the 'contrib/' directory
> when I do not have a particular need, interest, or the
> expertise to properly maintain it, if I can avoid it.

Yep fair enough. I guess you can consider this a somewhat maintained
fork (as in I've updated it and used the result once). I'll see if any
other users appear.