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abapGit checkout / checkin roundtrip

Goal​

Pull a package out of SAP as abapGit-formatted files, edit them with any tool, commit to git, and push the changes back to SAP — without Eclipse, without the abapGit frontend.

Prerequisites​

  • adt-cli installed and authenticated
  • A source package ($ZDEMO used throughout)
  • A transport: export TR=DEVK900001
  • Optional: git client, IDE, ESLint-for-ABAP, etc. — none is required

Layout​

abapGit classic format. Each object becomes:

src/
  zcl_demo.clas.abap        # source
  zcl_demo.clas.xml         # metadata
  zif_demo.intf.abap
  zif_demo.intf.xml
  zt_customer.tabl.xml      # DDIC: metadata only, no .abap
  zi_customer.ddls.asddls   # DDL source
  .apack-manifest.xml       # (if present — package manifest)
  package.devc.xml          # package metadata

See Format comparison for the gCTS/AFF equivalent.

Steps​

1. Checkout​

adt checkout package \$ZDEMO ./src

Expected output:

Importing package $ZDEMO ...
  CLAS  ZCL_DEMO             → src/zcl_demo.clas.abap (+xml)
  INTF  ZIF_DEMO              → src/zif_demo.intf.abap (+xml)
  TABL  ZT_CUSTOMER           → src/zt_customer.tabl.xml
  DDLS  ZI_CUSTOMER           → src/zi_customer.ddls.asddls
  DEVC  $ZDEMO                → src/package.devc.xml
4 objects, 1 package

Narrow by type:

adt checkout package \$ZDEMO ./src --object-types CLAS,INTF,DDLS

2. Edit​

Work on the files with any editor, toolchain, linter, or AI assistant. abapGit .abap files are plain ABAP with no wrapper — you can run prettier-abap, ESLint-for-ABAP, git diff, etc.

3. Git snapshot​

git init && git add src && git commit -m "initial checkout of $ZDEMO"
# ... edit ...
git commit -am "add validation in ZCL_DEMO->main"

4. Dry-run the checkin​

Before writing anything back:

adt checkin ./src -p \$ZDEMO --dry-run

Expected output:

Plan (dry-run, no SAP writes):
  UPDATE  CLAS  ZCL_DEMO        (source changed)
  SKIP    INTF  ZIF_DEMO        (unchanged)
  SKIP    TABL  ZT_CUSTOMER     (unchanged)
1 updates, 0 creates, 0 deletes

5. Real checkin​

adt checkin ./src -p \$ZDEMO -t $TR

checkin:

  1. Walks the directory and matches files to the format plugin.
  2. Opens a batch lock session.
  3. Creates-or-updates each object (attaches to $TR).
  4. Activates them as a group.

6. JSON output for scripts​

adt checkin ./src -p \$ZDEMO -t $TR --json > result.json
jq '.results[] | select(.status!="ok")' result.json

Exit code is 1 if any object failed — result.json lists the details.

7. Skip activation (staging)​

adt checkin ./src -p \$ZDEMO -t $TR --no-activate

Subset operations​

# Single object
adt checkout class ZCL_DEMO ./src
adt checkin ./src --types CLAS -p \$ZDEMO -t $TR

# Multiple types
adt checkin ./src --types CLAS,INTF,DDLS -p \$ZDEMO -t $TR

Troubleshooting​

ErrorCauseFix
Object ZCL_DEMO locked by user PPLENKOVStale lock from a previous runadt checkin ./src -p \$ZDEMO -t $TR --unlock (force-unlocks locks held by your user)
Activation failed: ZT_CUSTOMER inactiveType dependency didn't activate in-orderKeep all files together; abapGit activation orders by object kind. If it still fails, split: --types TABL,DTEL,DOMA first, then --types CLAS,INTF,DDLS
Format plugin not found: abapgitPlugin dependency not installednpm i -g @abapify/adt-plugin-abapgit
Checkout wrote 0 filesPackage empty, or type filter excluded everythingRemove --object-types, or drop into SE80/adt ls to confirm content
412 Precondition Failed during checkinObject changed in SAP since last checkoutRe-checkout, merge, retry

See also​