The Problem

I have a LookML project, connected to a Git repository. I would now like to move that LookML to a brand new repository.

The Solution

Simple: Preserve History for Master Branch

If we reset the Git connection and enter a new Git URL, then the LookML will be moved over to that repository.

1. Go to the Project Settings page for that project.
   
2. On the Project Settings page, click Reset Git Connection.
   
3. On the Configure Git page, enter the new Git URL.
4. When prompted, make sure to click “Reset Key”. Otherwise, the same SSH key will be used which can cause a conflict if both repositories are hosted by the same service (ie Github).
   
5. Add the new deploy key to your repo, with Write access.

That’s all! Now your project is connected to the new repository.

Advanced: Preserving all branches

The above steps preserve the history of the master branch, and the branches of any developers who choose to log in and sync their dev mode. To preserve all branches and their history, a more involved process is necessary.

First you will need to own the original repository. You can find the URL at the bottom of the Project settings page. If it begins with llooker/, then it is Looker-hosted, and you contact DCL at support@looker.com to gain access.

For this example, let’s say that git@github.com:llooker/PROJECT_NAME.git is the original repo and that git@github.com:USERNAME/PROJECT_NAME.git.

1. Clone the original repository onto your computer, and pull down the branches you want to preserve.

   1. git clone git@github.com:llooker/PROJECT_NAME.git
   2. cd PROJECT_NAME

   3. git checkout master

   4. git pull

2. Reset the repo’s remote URL (read more about this here)

   1. git remote -v
      This shows you the remote(s) your repo is currently pointing to. The results will look something like:

   origin git@github.com:llooker/PROJECT_NAME.git (fetch)
   origin git@github.com:looker/PROJECT_NAME.git (push)
   

3. Now set the origin remote to the new repo.
   1. git remote set-url origin git@github.com:USERNAME/PROJECT_NAME.git
   2. git push origin master

4. Now, to bring in history and files for dev branches, you’ll need to do git checkout dev_branch_name and git push origin for each dev branch. This can be done manually, or in a loop in a script such as:

   #!/bin/bash
   for branch in $(git branch --all | grep '^\s*remotes' | egrep --invert-match '(:?HEAD|master)$'); do 
   git branch --track "${branch##*/}" "$branch" 
   done
   

   Then those branches will need to be pushed with git push --all.

5. Reset the git connection in Looker to this new URL and set up a deploy key on this new repo (as in the Simple steps).