Introduction to Git

Introduction to Git

GIT

Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency.

It is a DevOps tool used for source code management. Git is used to track changes in the source code, enabling multiple developers to work together on non-linear development.

  • It is used to track changes in the source code

  • The distributed version control tool is used for source code management

  • It allows multiple developers to work together

  • It supports non-linear development through its thousands of parallel branches


Before Git was created in 2005 by Linux kernel:

  • Developers used to submit their codes to the central server without having copies of their own.

  • Any changes made to the source code were unknown to the other developers.

  • There was no communication between any of the developers.

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After Git:

  • Every developer has an entire copy of the code on their local systems.

  • Any changes made to the source code can be tracked by others.

  • There is regular communication between the developers

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Git Syntaxes:

SETUP

Configuring user information used across all local repositories

git config --global user.name “[firstname lastname]”

set a name that is identifiable for credit when review version history

git config --global user.email “[valid-email]”

set an email address that will be associated with each history marker

git config --global color.ui auto

set automatic command line coloring for Git for easy reviewing


SETUP & INIT

Configuring user information, initializing and cloning repositories

git init

initialize an existing directory as a Git repository

git clone [url]

retrieve an entire repository from a hosted location via URL


STAGE & SNAPSHOT

Working with snapshots and the Git staging area

git status

show modified files in working directory, staged for your next commit

git add [file]

add a file as it looks now to your next commit (stage)

git reset [file]

unstage a file while retaining the changes in working directory

git diff

diff of what is changed but not staged

git diff --staged

diff of what is staged but not yet committed

git commit -m “[descriptive message]”

commit your staged content as a new commit snapshot


BRANCH & MERGE

Isolating work in branches, changing context, and integrating changes

git branch

list your branches. a * will appear next to the currently active branch

git branch [branch-name]

create a new branch at the current commit

git checkout

switch to another branch and check it out into your working directory

git merge [branch]

merge the specified branch’s history into the current one

git log

show all commits in the current branch’s history


INSPECT & COMPARE

Examining logs, diffs and object information

git log

show the commit history for the currently active branch

git log branchB..branchA

show the commits on branchA that are not on branchB

git log --follow [file]

show the commits that changed file, even across renames

git diff branchB...branchA

show the diff of what is in branchA that is not in branchB

git show [SHA]

show any object in Git in human-readable format


TRACKING PATH CHANGES

Versioning file removes and path changes

git rm [file]

delete the file from project and stage the removal for commit

git mv [existing-path] [new-path]

change an existing file path and stage the move

git log --stat -M

show all commit logs with indication of any paths that moved


SHARE & UPDATE

Retrieving updates from another repository and updating local repos

git remote add [alias] [url]

add a git URL as an alias

git fetch [alias]

fetch down all the branches from that Git remote

git merge [alias]/[branch]

merge a remote branch into your current branch to bring it up to date

git push [alias] [branch]

Transmit local branch commits to the remote repository branch

git pull

fetch and merge any commits from the tracking remote branch


REWRITE HISTORY

Rewriting branches, updating commits and clearing history

git rebase [branch]

apply any commits of current branch ahead of specified one

git reset --hard [commit]

clear staging area, rewrite working tree from specified commit


Happy Learning !!!