Original problem:
I am interested in forking and contributing to a public repository. Problem is, I wish to only update and retrieves updates for a single subdirectory in the public repository.
First attempt:
- Fork the public repository
- Clone the newly forked repository
- Update .gitignore files for the unwanted folders and files
- Untrack and delete unwanted directories and files using git "git rm -r --cache ."
Problem: When I wish to retrieve updates from the original public repository, the folders and files I have removed from my local repository are still being tracked in the public repository and thus i have to manually weed out all the unwanted content killing my process.
I thought of doing (described here):
- Clone public repository
- Create another public repository
- Use git subtree split to push folder to newly created public repository
Problem: The newly created public repository is no longer a "Fork" of the original repository and lose all the benefits such as visibility from the original repository and the creation of pull requests.