How to use SourceTree on a shared Google Drive directory?

Question

Hello, dear Community!

We are currently using Google Drive directories to share the codes of your software developments among colleagues. We would like to use BitBucket/SourceTree as a repository applied to these directories. I have set up my SourceTree so that it clones my codes directly on these Google Drive directories.

Nevertheless, my colleagues cannot do it from their desktop because SourceTree tells them that the directory has to be empty before they can carry out the cloning. The directory is not empty, because it is our GoogleDrive directory on which we are already sharing our code.

Is there a practical solution or workaround to that problem?

Any recommendations?

Thank you very much in advance!

SolarJonathan · Answer

Hello Stephen,

Thank you very much for your answer. I feared that we were indeed approaching all this from the wrong angle, and we will try to implement the solutions that you are recommending.

Regards,

Stephen Sifers · Answer

Hello Jonathan,

Thanks for explaining your current workflow you use and what you're wanting to move towards. If you’re going to use Sourcetree and Bitbucket together then you’ll be adopting git as your version control system. Git is not compatible with shared access and you’ll need to use Bitbucket as your central repository for your code (This will be a workflow change from using google drive). Your team will have to make the adjustment to start accessing/viewing code within Bitbucket and making clones/branches when they want to work on a specific bug or feature. These clones and branches will be held locally on your systems until you commit them back to Bitbucket.

Atlassian has an entire lab for you to work through to better understand these concepts and how they work together with the applications. We would suggest reviewing these labs and sharing them with your team to also review. You may find the labs at https://www.atlassian.com/git.

I hope this information proves helpful in your migration.

Regards,
Stephen Sifers