Git is a powerful tool that can be overwhelming to use at times. This guide is a reminder of Git basics and some best practices.
When using Git in a terminal, Git tries to help you out by giving detailed messages. Read those messages carefully. If a command isn’t working as expected, take your time and see what Git is telling you. Sometimes those messages will tell you exactly how to fix your issues. If the Git message doesn’t solve your issue, it can help you know what terms to search for when looking for help.
When starting on the project, you will first need to clone the remote repository to your computer. You will clone the repository by going to the repository page on GitHub and clicking the clone button. The clone menu will provide two options. For the group project, we suggest using SSH, however cloning with HTTPS will also work.
Both options will create a Git repository on your local computer with all the files, branches, and commits that are present in the remote repository.
Cloning Options:
SSH
Uses SSH to clone the repository.
Example: git clone git@github.com:LaunchCodeEducation/liftoff.git
Requires a file to be created and uploaded to GitHub.
You do NOT have to enter your password when pushing commits to a remote repository.
HTTPS
Uses an HTTPS url for the repository.
Example: git clone https://github.com/LaunchCodeEducation/liftoff.git
Requires that you enter your password pushing commits to a remote repository.
Right after you clone the remote repository, your local copy will be up to date. However, as the project progresses new branches and commits will be pushed to the remote repository. Your local repository will NOT automatically update itself.
git fetch¶The fetch command makes your local repository aware of all the new commits and branches on the remote repository. Git fetch does NOT update any of your local branches, it brings your local Git repository’s data about the available branches and commits up to date.
git pull¶The pull command is used to update your current branch with new commits that have been pushed to that branch on
the remote repository. The pull command is a combination of two other Git commands. First, a git fetch runs
to make sure you local repository is aware of all the new data on the remote repository. Second, a git merge
runs to merge in any new commits for tne current branch.
Remember that Git does NOT keep your local branches up to date. For group projects, you will need to pull in the commits and branches being created by your group members.
As detailed in the Git workflow section, you should create a new branch for each feature you are working on. This allows features to be developed in isolation, to avoid disrupting other features that are also being worked on.
Creating a new branch:
Use git status to make sure you are on the base branch you want. The base branch is usually master.
WARNING: if you have uncommitted changes, you can:
Stash them.
Commit them to the current branch.
Leave them and commit them on the new branch.
Use git checkout -b feature-branch-name to create and switch to the new branch.
You can now make commits and push this branch to the remote repository.
You need to have write access to the remote repository. If working on a group project, this is setup by the group mentor. After you have write access, you can push up commits to the remote repository.
Run git status to verify the changes you made show up as not staged or untracked.
It’s also a good idea to double check you are on the correct branch.
Run git add . to stage all files for commit.
It’s best to run this command from the root folder of the repository
The . refers to the current directory.
You can stage one file at a time if you need to commit only certain files.
In that case, replace the . with a file name or path.
Run git status to verify that the changes have been staged.
Run git commit -m "short description" to make a commit containing all staged changes.
Run git status to verify that there are no uncommitted changes.
When you make a new branch or new commits, you can push them to the remote repository so that other people can access them.
Run git status to verify your branch and all changes have been committed.
Are you noticing a pattern of using git status?
Run git push.
This defaults to pushing to origin master which is the remote repository.
Review the Git message to see if the push worked.
Git may need you to to do a git pull before pushing.
Remember these steps when you need to commit and push your code:
git status - verify branch
git add . - stage changes
git commit -m "short description" - commit changes
git push - push commits to remote repository
It may happen that you go to start a new branch but the results from git status show that you have
uncommitted changes. Even worse, you may not remember what these changes were for. Instead of committing
the changes to the current branch, you can use git stash to store those changes for future review.
Read this summary of stash command for how to use stash.
For a full list of Git commands and more detailed examples, see the resources section below.
Command |
Description |
|---|---|
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Information about git commands |
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Information and options for the specific COMMAND |
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Clones a remote repository into a local folder |
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Shows all local and remote branches |
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Switches the branch you are on to BRANCH-NAME |
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Creates a new branch using given name and then switches to that branch |
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Reports the current state of the repo. Make sure to run this at the top level of your repository |
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Stages (adds) files to be committed. Changes have to be staged before they can be committed |
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Creates a commit that contains all the staged changes. |
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Pushes local commits to the remote repository. Then the commits can be pulled down by other team members |
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Makes your local repository aware of new branches and commits on the remote repository. Does NOT update any local branches, only makes your local aware of new commits. |
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Merges the commits from BRANCH-NAME into your current branch |
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Runs a |
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A way of keeping changes without committing them to your branch. |
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See a list of commits with info about the author, date, and time of each commit |
|
Will show differences in files between two branches or commits. |
Official Git Reference - A Git command reference from the creators of Git.
Pro Git Book - A reference book covering Git in depth.
Flight Rules for Git - A “How to” guide for Git.
Interactive GitHub Sandbox - A place to practice Git without fear of messing anything up.