The document discusses using Git to manage multiple configurations of output transformations (OT) effectively. It outlines a solution to centralize OT directories in a Git repository, detailing commands for branch management and file exclusions. It also highlights potential issues, such as ignoring jar files and unnecessary generated files, and provides best practices for branch switching.

1. Multiple OTs with Git
Managing dozens of OT
configurations using git
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Eliot Kimber
Contrext, LLC
DITA OT Day 2015 Munich, Germany

2. Problem: Many OT Configurations
• Different OT versions
• Per-client OT configurations
• Experiments
• Projects
• Etc.
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3. Solution: Make OT Directory a Git
repo
$ cd ~/DITA-OT
$ git init
$ git add –A
$ git commit –m "Initial setup"
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One value is single location for OT—don't have to
modify oXygenXML or other tools that need to know
where OT is.

4. One Branch Per Configuration
$ git checkout –b 1.8.5
$ git checkout master
$ git checkout –b 2.x
$ rm –Rf *
$ copy –r ../DITA-OT-2.2.1/*
$ git add –A .
$ git commit –m "2.2.1 version"
$ git checkout –b example.org
$ git branch
1.8.5
2.x
* example.org
master
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5. Be Sure to Include .jar Files
$ cat .gitignore
!*.jar
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6. Exclude Generated Files
$ cat .gitignore
!*.jar
build.xml
catalog-dita.xml
lib/org.dita.dost.platform/plugin.properties
plugins/org.dita.eclipsehelp/xsl/map2plugin.xsl
resource/messages.xml
xsl/preprocess/maplink.xsl
xsl/preprocess/mappull.xsl
xsl/preprocess/mapref.xsl
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7. Create an "empty" branch
$ git checkout –b empty
$ rm –Rf *
$ git add -A
$ git commit –m "Empty branch"
$ git checkout 1.8.5
$ ant –f integrator.xml
$ git checkout –f empty
$ rm –Rf *
$ git checkout 2.x
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8. Gotchas
• Not committing Jar files
– On checkout of branch, PDF generation fails
– Check or override your default ignore settings
• Committing generated files
– Produces non-useful changes you have to ignore or
manually remove
– List ignored files in .gitignore
• Switching between branches after deploying new
plugins
– Use the empty branch
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9. Questions?
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