package-git.el provides automatic Git-based version control for your Emacs package directory (package-user-dir). It tracks all package installations, deletions, and upgrades by automatically committing changes to a Git repository, allowing you to easily rollback to previous package states.

• **Automatic Git Repository Management** : Automatically initializes a Git repository in your package-user-dir if one doesn’t exist
• **Automatic Commit Tracking** : Commits package changes automatically with descriptive messages
• **Batch Operation Support** : Groups multiple operations (like package-upgrade-all) into single commits
• **Manual Commit Support** : Allows manual commits with custom messages
• **Non-intrusive** : Uses Emacs advice system to hook into existing package functions
• **Easy Enable/Disable** : Simple commands to turn Git tracking on or off

1. Place package-git.el in your Emacs load path
2. Add to your configuration:

(require 'package-git)
(package-git-enable)

Or use use-package:

(use-package package-git
  :vc ( :url "https://github.com/kn66/package-git.el"
        :rev :newest)
  :config
  (package-git-enable))

• package-git-auto-commit (default: t): Whether to automatically commit package changes

(setq package-git-auto-commit t)  ; Enable auto-commit

Enable Git management for ELPA packages. This will:

• Check if Git is available on your system
• Initialize a Git repository in package-user-dir if needed
• Set up advice on package management functions
• Create a .gitignore file with sensible defaults

Disable Git management and remove all advice from package functions.

Manually commit the current package state with a custom message.

M-x package-git-commit-now RET "Manual backup before experiment" RET

Once enabled, package-git automatically tracks:

• **Package Installation**: M-x package-install, M-x package-list-packages → Install
• **Package Deletion**: M-x package-delete, M-x package-list-packages → Delete
• **Package Upgrades**: M-x package-upgrade-all, individual package upgrades
• **Batch Operations**: Package menu operations (package-menu-execute)

The package creates descriptive commit messages:

• Install: package-name
• Delete: package-name
• Package upgrade: package1, package2, package3
• Package menu operations: multiple operations

The Git repository is created in your package-user-dir (usually ~/.emacs.d/elpa/) with:

• **=.gitignore=** : Excludes *.elc files, temporary files, and package archives
• **Initial commit** : If packages already exist, they’re committed as “Initial commit: existing packages”
• **User configuration** : Sets Git user as “ELPA Git Manager <elpa@localhost>”

;; Enable Git tracking
(package-git-enable)

;; Install a package - automatically committed
(package-install 'magit)
;; Commit message: "Install: magit"

;; Upgrade all packages - single batch commit
(package-upgrade-all)
;; Commit message: "Package upgrade: magit, company, helm"

;; Manual commit
(package-git-commit-now "Before trying experimental packages")

Since your packages are now in a Git repository, you can use standard Git commands:

cd ~/.emacs.d/elpa
git log --oneline                    # View commit history
git show HEAD                        # View latest changes
git diff HEAD~1                      # Compare with previous state

cd ~/.emacs.d/elpa
git log --oneline                    # Find the commit to rollback to
git reset --hard <commit-hash>       # Rollback to specific state

• **Emacs** : 24.4 or later
• **Git** : Must be available in system PATH
• **Packages** : Requires the built-in package.el

If you see “Git is not available on this system”, ensure Git is installed and in your PATH.

Make sure Emacs has write permissions to your package-user-dir.

The .gitignore excludes *.elc files by default. If your repository becomes large, you can manually clean up:

cd ~/.emacs.d/elpa
git gc --aggressive --prune=now

After enabling, you can customize the Git repository:

cd ~/.emacs.d/elpa
git config user.name "Your Name"
git config user.email "your.email@example.com"

You can add a remote repository to backup your package state:

cd ~/.emacs.d/elpa
git remote add origin https://github.com/yourusername/emacs-packages.git
git push -u origin master

(let ((package-git-auto-commit nil))
  (package-install 'some-package))  ; Won't auto-commit

Contributions are welcome! Please ensure:

• Code follows Emacs Lisp conventions
• Functions are properly documented
• Changes are tested with various package operations

• Emacs Package Management
• Git Version Control
• use-package