Merge pull request #243 from NLeSC/202-add-to-existing-project

instructions for applying template to an existing package

Author: eriktks

ADD_TO_EXISTING_PACKAGE.md

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# Add your existing code to directory generated by the NLeSC Python template
+
+The following steps requires that your existing code is in a GitHub repository.
+
+1. Follow the [instructions to create a new package](https://github.com/NLeSC/python-template#how-to-use) with the Python template, while answering the questions like you would for the existing package.
+
+2. Create a Git structure for the new directory: (replace  `<NEW_DIRECTORY>` with directory name you used during cookiecutter questionnaire)
+```shell
+$ cd <NEW_DIRECTORY>
+$ git init
+$ git add --all
+$ git commit -m "Added code generated by cookiecutter"
+$ git branch -M main
+```
+
+3. Import the existing repository from GitHub (Replace `<ORGANIZATION>` with your GitHub organization name , `<REPOSITORY>` with your GitHub repository name and `<BRANCH>` with your default branch for example `main` or `master`):
+```shell
+$ git remote add -f existing_code https://github.com/<ORGANIZATION>/<REPOSITORY>
+$ git fetch existing_code
+$ git merge existing_code/<BRANCH> --allow-unrelated-histories
+```
+
+4. The previous step will likely result in several merge conflicts. Solve the conflicts by editing the files.
+5. Once all conflicts have been resolved then add all the files to GitHub:
+```shell
+$ git add --all
+$ git commit -m "Merged existing code with code generated by cookiecutter"
+$ git push
+```

README.md

@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ my-python-project/
 ```
 
 For an explanation of what's there, read on in the [project_setup.md]({{cookiecutter.project_name}}/project_setup.md) file.
+There are also instructions on how to [apply the template to an existing Python package](ADD_TO_EXISTING_PACKAGE.md).
 
 ## Examples