Git

1. Distributed Version Control Git

2. Local Version Control • Old-school version control like RCS Image stolen from http://progit.org/book/ which is really good, go read it.

3. Centralized Version Control • This is how Subversion works Image stolen from http://progit.org/book/ which is really good, go read it.

4. Distributed Version Control • This is how Git works Image stolen from http://progit.org/book/ which is really good, go read it.

5. Why Do I Care? • Because it has been mandated that you care about version control by Prof. Laurendeau • Because you will use version control at every single coding job you get in the real world • If your company doesn’t have version control in place, that’s a huge warning sign • Because it will change the way you think about programming, for the better • Because it stops you from completely screwing yourselves the day before an iteration is due

6. Installing Git • Let’s install Git and try some things out. • Linux: use your favourite package manager • Ubuntu: aptitude install git • Windows: use the MSysGit installer • http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/ • Mac: use the OS X installer • http://code.google.com/p/git-osx-installer/

7. Learning Git • Read Pro Git, it’s excellent and free • http://progit.org/book/ • Git is extraordinarily powerful and you’ll be a better programmer if you take the time to understand it • If in doubt, always use the built in manual • Every git command has a --help flag • e.g. git cherry-pick --help Seriously go read http://progit.org/book/.

8. Getting Started • Let’s tell Git our name and email address • It attaches these to any commits we make so people know who to kill for breaking the build an hour before an iteration is due • gitconfig --global user.name “Your Name” • gitconfig --global user.email“you@place.tld” • --global sets the variable for your OS user • --system sets the variable for all users on your machine • Omit the --global and --system flags to set a gitconfig variable for just this repository

9. Creating a Repository • git init • Creates a local, empty git repository in the folder where the command is run • Creates a .git folder for the guts of the repository • Only one .git folder, at the root of your repository • This is way nicer than creating a new .svn folder for every single subfolder in your repository • We’ll go over how to work with other people on a remote repository soon

10. Anatomy of a Repository Image stolen from http://progit.org/book/ which is really good, go read it.

11. Anatomy of a Repository • Crazy important! Memorize this! • The working directory consists of the actual files and folders on your machine • The staging area lets you build commits out of snapshots taken of the files and folders in your working directory • The repository maintains a collection and complete hierarchical history of all commits

12. Oh God, What’s Happening? • git status • Shows you the state of your staging area and of your working directory • git log • Shows a commit history of your repository • git diff • Shows changes between commits, your working directory, the staging area, etc. • git diff --help to learn more Or you could just go read http://progit.org/book/ and you’ll be an expert.

13. Adding & Removing Files • git add file • Adds a snapshot of file to your staging area • You can change file and the snapshot will remain as it is • gitrmfile • Removes the file snapshot from your staging area and deletes file from your working directory • gitrm --cached file • Removes the file snapshot from your staging area while keeping file in your working directory intact

14. .gitignore • Tells Git which files to ignore outright • Uses glob syntax for pattern matching • There’s a decent summary of glob syntax at linux.about.com/library/cmd/blcmdl7_glob.htm • Git adds re-inclusion rules with !pattern • “Include any files matched by pattern, even if they’ve been ignored by a previous pattern.” • There’s a sample .gitignore on the website • Stack Overflow is a good source of .gitignore files

15. Making Commits • git commit -m “your message” • Creates a commit from the contents of your staging area and adds it to the repository • -m “your message” sets the commit message • If we keep adding commits we get a linked list that represents the history of our repository • gitk --all gives a graphical history of all branches • Leaving out the --all shows just this branch And the book at http://progit.org/book/ has a whole bunch more information. Read the damn book!

16. GitK Screenshot

17. Branching & Why It Is Awesome • Branching allows us to create a tree of commits instead of a linked list • Merging will let us turn this into a DAG • Easy, painless branching is the most important and powerful feature of Git • Give each new feature its own branch, which can be merged back into the main (master) branch after it’s been completed and is stable

18. GitK With Branching

19. Creating Branches • Git maintains a pointer to the current checked out branch, called HEAD • git branch newbranch • Creates a new branch starting at the current commit, but does not move the HEAD pointer • git checkout newbranch • Changes HEAD to point to newbranch • Run git branch then git checkout to create and start working from a new branch • Shortcut: git checkout -b newbranch

20. Branching Example $ git branch testing $ git checkout testing Images again stolen from http://progit.org/book/ which you should read because it’s good.

21. Branching Example $ git commit $ git checkout master Images stolen from http://progit.org/book/

22. Branching Example • At this point, the branch history has diverged • We want to branch for new features and merge them back into the master branch • This makes your life infinitely easier $ git commit Images once again stolen from http://progit.org/book/

23. Merge Tools • gitconfig --global merge.tooltoolname • Sets the merge tool for your OS user • A merge tool allows you to fix any conflicts that arise from merging two branches • Google will give you a list of merge tools • I use p4merge, it’s hard to go wrong just choosing a random merge tool and using it • gitmergetool • Run this command if anything goes wrong with a merge, it’ll allow you to fix things

24. Merging • git merge branchname • Allows you to take another branch and merge its changes into the currently checked out branch • Git has hyper-intelligent algorithms that track your content, not your files • If you move or rename a file and make changes to it, it will still be detected as the same content

25. Merging Example Image stolen from http://progit.org/book/

26. Merging Example Image stolen from http://progit.org/book/

27. Branching & Merging in SVN • It’s relevant to see how the approach taken by Git differs from that of terrible legacy systems like SVN • Subversion doesn’t have real branches • A branch is just a copy of your repository in a named folder • SVN has no concept of branch history and therefore cannot determine common ancestry to help with merging • Subversion doesn’t have real merging • The svn merge command should be called svn diff-and-apply-patch because that’s all it does • “If a merge fails, run svn revert and do it by hand.” • There is no way to tell whether a given set of changes were the result of a merge or were just straight edits

28. Remote Repositories • git remote add reponameurl • Adds an external Git repository called name • git fetch reponame • Fetches updated branches from reponame including all updated data • A remote branch shows up as reponame/branchname • Your local information about remote repositories isn’t updated automatically • You need to run git fetch periodically on your remotes to get new branch/commit information

29. Remote Repositories Image stolen from http://progit.org/book/

30. Pushing • git push reponamebranchname • Adds a local branch to a remote Git repository • You need to have write access to the remote repository • Alternatively, merges your local branch into a remote branch of the same name • git push reponamelocalbranch:remotebranch • Explicit syntax for merging your changes from localbranchinto remotebranch • Always fetch and merge before you push • Save yourself grief and error messages

31. Pulling • git pull reponamebranchname • Fetches from reponame then merges the remote branchnameinto your local branchname • git pull reponamelocalbranch:remotebranch • Fetches from reponame then merges reponame/remotebranch into localbranch • Syntactic sugar for fetching and merging • Your workflow should be “git pull; git push”

32. Tracking Branches • git checkout -b branch remote/otherbranch • Gives you a tracking branch that you can work on, that starts where remote/otherbranch is • Tracking branches are local branches that have a direct relationship to a remote branch • You can just call git push/pull with no arguments and it know which remote branch to change

33. Cloning a Repository • git clone url • Creates a new local git repository, creates new tracking branches for each branch in the cloned repository, creates and checks out an initial branch that is forked from the remote’s active branch • Watch out if the remote repository doesn’t have any commits yet (really common thing) • Cloning will fail, you need to do git init, git remote add origin url, create an initial commit with some content, then run git push origin master

34. And We’re Done! • There’s some stuff I didn’t get to cover due to time constraints • Look up git stash, gitsubmodule • TortoiseGit is a Windows-only frontend for Git • It’s a knockoff of TortoiseSVN and is really easy to use • Go read the Pro Git book because it’s short, awesome, free, etc. • Reading it will make you taller and more popular with members of your preferred gender • Thanks for your time :)