How to fork a git project across different github servers

Problem

Need to fork a project from github.com, and work with the forked repository under a different git server (github.ibm.com). Need to pull any changes made to the original project after the fork into my working repository.

Solution:

Follow these steps:

1. Fork project https://github.com/cmadam/test_fork under https://github.com/cmadam-1/test_fork

2. Clone the forked repository:

   git clone https://github.com/cmadam-1/test_fork.git
   

3. Add the original project repo to the list of remote sources, under the name upstream. The upstream remote will be used to retrieve the changes to the original project:

   git remote add upstream https://github.com/cmadam/test_fork.git
   

4. Create the new working repository under github.ibm.com, and point the origin remote to this new repository:

   git remote set-url origin [email protected]:cmadam/test_fork.git
   

5. Push the forked code in the new working repository:

   git push origin master
   

6. To test that everything works, make a change (update this README.md file) in the original git repository. The three steps below update the new working repository with the latest changes made to the original repo:

7. Get the latest code from the master branch or the original repository:

   git fetch upstream master
   

8. Merge these changes to the master branch of the working repo:

   git checkout master
   git merge upstream/master
   

9. Push these changes to the remote working repo:

   git push
   

10. Finally, in order to avoid retyping the commands above, create a Makefile that will contain a target, like this:

update-code:
    @git fetch upstream master
    @git checkout master
    @git merge upstream/master
    @git push origin master

Now, typing make update-code will get the latest updates in the original source code, merge them into the working repo, and push them back into the working repo. This will work if the merge can perform successfully. TODO: handle gracefully merging conflicts.

11. Do not add the Makefile above to the git repo, as this is only a local convenience tool.