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Git - Tutorial 2 5

Git is a version control system that allows creating snapshots of files called commits. It works by staging modified or untracked files to be committed. Commits have unique IDs and the commit history can be viewed using git log. Branches allow independent lines of development that can be merged later. Remote repositories allow sharing work by pushing and pulling commits.

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41 views

Git - Tutorial 2 5

Git is a version control system that allows creating snapshots of files called commits. It works by staging modified or untracked files to be committed. Commits have unique IDs and the commit history can be viewed using git log. Branches allow independent lines of development that can be merged later. Remote repositories allow sharing work by pushing and pulling commits.

Uploaded by

slahsbi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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>>> mkdir myrepo && cd myrepo

>>> git init

Now try ls -a . Notice anything interesting?

You can also clone existing repositories from a (usually remote) different location. Git supports this via
http(s), ssh, etc.

We're going to create a remote repository on GitLab and clone it.

Please create an account on GitLab (http://gitlab.com) and create a public repository called
myrepo . Then clone it to your local machine by doing

>>> git clone https://gitlab.com/<gitlab_username>/myrepo.git


>>> cd myrepo

At this point you could set some configurations.

>>> git config core.editor "emacs -nw" # or your favourite light-weight editor
>>> git config color.ui true # makes life more fun

>>> git config --list # check that it worked!

To make settings for all repositories on your computer, add the flag --global after git config .

You should also set your user name and email like this:

>>> git config user.name "Stefan Richter"


>>> git config user.email "stefan.richter@example.com"

These will be associated with your commits.

Monitoring 1
Your first best friend in Git is the command status :

>>> git status

It shows you the files in the repository, both tracked and untracked by Git. Use this command all the time to
know what's going on.
Committing
Commit = saved snapshot of tracked files. You can always revert to a commit! You can also compare
them, share them, …

Commits are cheap. What do I mean by that?

Committing in Git works in two steps. First modified or untracked files are "registered" for the next commit
by using add . This is called staging. The staged files are then committed with commit :

Image from https://git-scm.com (license)

Note: most other VCSs (e.g. Mercurial and SVN) don't have this two-step structure. They don't have a
staging area.

>>> git add <path/to/file> # file is now staged for commit

Note: in Mercurial and SVN, add is only used to put a previously untracked file under version control. In
Git, it has a wider meaning!

>>> git commit

Then write a commit message. We'll give you hints for what is a good message.
Good commit messages matter! Here are some good recommendations (bedtime reading for you?).

Commits are identified by a unique hexadecimal number (a hash).

Monitoring 2
Your second best friend is diff . It shows you changes (differences) between versions. Without
arguments, it shows all changes made to tracked files in the repository since the last commit.

>>> git diff


>>> git diff <path/to/file>

( git diff can also be used to show differences between arbitrary revisions. You can google it.)

Use

>>> git log

to see the commit history on your current branch. I use git log -<number> a lot to only show the
<number> last commits, e.g.

>>> git log -3

A question and a suggestion:

What happens if you track files other than flat text files?
Create a hidden file .gitignore containing file patterns you want Git to ignore. These files won't
show up in git status . E.g.

*.log
*.tmp
test_data/
my_personal_notes.txt

Branches
To check which branch you are on:
>>> git branch # see where we are!
>>> git branch -a # what's the difference?

Create a new branch:

>>> git branch dev1 # dev1 is the name of the branch

Switch to the branch using checkout :

>>> git checkout dev1


>>> git branch # see where we are!

To merge my changes into another branch (let's say, master ):

>>> git checkout master


>>> git merge dev1

Working with remote repositories: sharing


See what our remote is:

>>> git remote # what's our remote


>>> git remote -v # some more info

To update the local repository (pull changes):

>>> git pull

To update the remote repository (push changes):

>>> git push origin master

When pushing the first time, do

>>> git push -u origin master # -u tells the remote to track this branch in the future

A quick word on origin and master : these are the default names of the remote repository and the

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