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+History of `git-deps`
+=======================
+
+This tool was born from experiences at
+[SUSEcon](http://www.susecon.com/) 2013, when I attempted to help a
+colleague backport a bugfix in [OpenStack](http://www.openstack.org/)
+[Nova](http://docs.openstack.org/developer/nova/) from the `master`
+branch to a stable release branch.  At first sight it looked like it
+would only require a trivial `git cherry-pick`, but that immediately
+revealed conflicts due to related code having changed in `master`
+since the release was made.  I manually found the underlying commit
+which the bugfix required by using `git blame`, and tried another
+`cherry-pick`.  The same thing happened again.  Very soon I found
+myself in a quagmire of dependencies between commits, with no idea
+whether the end was in sight.
+
+In coffee breaks during the ensuing openSUSE conference at the same
+venue, I feverishly hacked together a prototype and it seemed to work.
+Then normal life intervened, and no progress was made for another
+year.
+
+Thanks to SUSE's generous [Hack Week](https://hackweek.suse.com/)
+policy, I had the luxury of being able to spending some of early
+January 2015 working to bring this tool to the next level.  I
+submitted a
+[Hack Week project page](https://hackweek.suse.com/11/projects/366)
+and
+[announced my intentions on the `git` mailing list](http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/262000).
+
+Again in May 2018 I took advantage of another Hack Week to package
+`git-deps` properly as a Python module in order to improve the
+installation process.  This was in preparation for demonstrating the
+software at [a Meetup
+event](https://www.meetup.com/londongit/events/248694943/) of the [Git
+London User Group](https://www.meetup.com/londongit/).