Examples

• 52

  Create your first repository, then add and commit files

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  52

  At the command line, first verify that you have Git installed:

  On all operating systems:

  git --version
  

  On UNIX-like operating systems:

  which git
  

  If nothing is returned, or the command is not recognized, you may have to install Git on your system by downloading and running the installer. See the Git homepage for exceptionally clear and easy installation instructions.

  After installing Git, configure your username and email address. Do this before making a commit.

  Once Git is installed, navigate to the directory you want to place under version control and create an empty Git repository:

  git init
  

  This creates a hidden folder, .git, which contains the plumbing needed for Git to work.

  Next, check what files Git will add to your new repository; this step is worth special care:

  git status
  

  Review the resulting list of files; you can tell Git which of the files to place into version control (avoid adding files with confidential information such as passwords, or files that just clutter the repo):

  git add <file/directory name #1> <file/directory name #2> < ... >
  

  If all files in the list should be shared with everyone who has access to the repository, a single command will add everything in your current directory and its subdirectories:

  git add .
  

  This will "stage" all files to be added to version control, preparing them to be committed in your first commit.

  For files that you want never under version control, create and populate a file named .gitignore before running the add command.

  Commit all the files that have been added, along with a commit message:

  git commit -m "Initial commit"
  

  This creates a new commit with the given message. A commit is like a save or snapshot of your entire project. You can now push, or upload, it to a remote repository, and later you can jump back to it if necessary.

  edited Jan 5 at 21:16

  

  

  

  

  

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• 30

  Clone a repository

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  30

  The git clone command is used to copy an existing Git repository from a server to the local machine.

  For example, to clone a GitHub project:

  cd <path where you'd like the clone to create a directory>
  git clone https://github.com/username/projectname.git
  

  To clone a BitBucket project:

  cd <path where you'd like the clone to create a directory>
  git clone https://[email protected]/username/projectname.git
  

  This creates a directory called projectname on the local machine, containing all the files in the remote Git repository. This includes source files for the project, as well as a .git sub-directory which contains the entire history and configuration for the project.

  To specify a different name of the directory, e.g. MyFolder:

  git clone https://github.com/username/projectname.git MyFolder
  

  Note:

  1. When cloning to a specified directory, the directory must be empty or non-existent.

  2. You can also use the ssh version of the command:

     git clone [email protected]:username/projectname.git
     

  The https version and the ssh version are equivalent. However, some hosting services such as GitHub recommend that you use https rather than ssh.

  edited Jan 2 at 15:25

  

  

  

  

  

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• 18

  Sharing code on your own server

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  18

  To share your code on a remote server where you have shell access, the following steps will help you create the repository on that server, then copy your local repository.

  To minimize the use of space on the remote server you create a bare repository: one which has only the .git objects and doesn't create a working copy in the filesystem. As a bonus you set this remote as an upstream server to easily share updates with other programmers.

  On the remote server:

  git init --bare /path/to/repo.git
  

  On the local machine:

  git remote add origin ssh://username@server:/path/to/repo.git
  

  (Note that ssh: is just one possible way of accessing the remote repository.)

  Now copy your local repository to the remote:

  git push --set-upstream origin master
  

  Adding --set-upstream (or -u) created an upstream (tracking) reference which is used by argument-less Git commands, e.g. git pull.

  edited Jan 2 at 15:25

  

  

  

  

  

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• 12

  Setting your user name and email

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  12

  You need to set who you are before creating any commit. That will allow commits to have the right author name and email associated to them.

  It has nothing to do with authentication when pushing to a remote repository (e.g. when pushing to a remote repository using your GitHub, BitBucket, or GitLab account)

  To declare that identity for all repositories, use git config --global
  This will store the setting in your user's .gitconfig file: e.g. $HOME/.gitconfig or for Windows, %USERPROFILE%\.gitconfig.

  git config --global user.name "Your Name"
  git config --global user.email [email protected]
  

  To declare an identity for a single repository, use git config inside a repo.
  This will store the setting inside the individual repositry, in the file $GIT_DIR/config. e.g. /path/to/your/repo/.git/config.

  cd /path/to/my/repo
  git config user.name "Your Login At Work"
  git config user.email [email protected]
  

  Settings stored in a repositorie's config file will take precedence over the global config when you use that repository.

  ---

  Tips: if you have different identities (one for open-source project, one at work, one for private repos, ...), and you don't want to forget to set the right one for each different repos you are working on:

  • Remove a global identity

      git config --global --remove-section user.name
      git config --global --remove-section user.email
    

  2.8

  • To force git to look for your identity only within a repository's settings, not in the global config:

      git config --global user.useConfigOnly true
    

  That way, if you forget to set your user.name and user.email for a given repository and try to make a commit, you will see:

  no name was given and auto-detection is disabled
  no email was given and auto-detection is disabled
  

  edited Oct 24 '16 at 18:49

  

  

  

  
• 9

  Learning about a command

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  9

  To get more information about any git command – i.e. details about what the command does, available options and other documentation – use the --help option or the help command.

  For example, to get all available information about the git diff command, use:

  git diff --help
  git help diff
  

  Similarly, to get all available information about the status command, use:

  git status --help
  git help status
  

  If you only want a quick help showing you the meaning of the most used command line flags, use -h:

  git checkout -h
  

  edited Jul 31 '16 at 21:10

  

  

  

  
• 8

  Setting up the upstream remote

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  8

  If you have cloned a fork (e.g. an open source project on Github) you may not have push access to the upstream repository, so you need both your fork but be able to fetch the upstream repository.

  First check the remote names:

  $ git remote -v
  origin    https://github.com/myusername/repo.git (fetch)
  origin    https://github.com/myusername/repo.git (push)
  upstream  # this line may or may not be here
  

  If upstream is there already (it is on some Git versions) you need to set the URL (currently it's empty):

  $ git remote set-url upstream https://github.com/projectusername/repo.git
  

  If the upstream is not there, or if you also want to add a friend/colleague's fork (currently they do not exist):

  $ git remote add upstream https://github.com/projectusername/repo.git
  $ git remote add dave https://github.com/dave/repo.git
  

  edited Oct 24 '16 at 18:49

  

  

• Improvements requested:

  • Other: Must be completed with other systems; Windows, iOS –  Jav_Rock Dec 20 at 17:32

  Edit Example Delete Example
  4

  Set up SSH for Git

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  4

  Linux

  Install ssh and list the contents of your ~/.ssh directory.

  $ ls -a ~/.ssh 
  known_hosts
  

  If you have defined a default identity, you'll see the two id_* files:

  $ ls -a ~/.ssh 
  .        ..        id_rsa        id_rsa.pub    known_hosts
  

  If not you can create it with the following command

  $ ssh-keygen
  

  Press the Enter or Return key to accept the default location. Enter and re-enter a passphrase when prompted, or leave it empty.

  Install the public key on your Bitbucket (or similar) account.

  You will need to copy the contents of id_rsa.pub.

  cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
  

  Change an existing repo from HHTPS to SSH, or clone it

  $ git remote set-url origin ssh://[email protected]:7999/projects/your_project.git
  

  or

  $ git clone ssh://[email protected]:7999/projects/your_project.git
  

  created Dec 20 '16 at 17:30