$ man git-diff
------------------------------------------------
+It is a good idea to introduce yourself to git before doing any
+operation. The easiest way to do so is:
+
+------------------------------------------------
+$ cat >~/.gitconfig <<\EOF
+[user]
+ name = Your Name Comes Here
+ email = you@yourdomain.example.com
+EOF
+------------------------------------------------
+
+
Importing a new project
-----------------------
You've now initialized the working directory--you may notice a new
directory created, named ".git". Tell git that you want it to track
-every file under the current directory with
+every file under the current directory with (notice the dot '.'
+that means the current directory):
------------------------------------------------
$ git add .
Finally,
------------------------------------------------
-$ git commit -a
+$ git commit
------------------------------------------------
will prompt you for a commit message, then record the current state
to review your changes. When you're done,
------------------------------------------------
-$ git commit -a
+$ git commit file1 file2...
------------------------------------------------
will again prompt your for a message describing the change, and then
-record the new versions of the modified files.
+record the new versions of the files you listed. It is cumbersome
+to list all files and you can say `-a` (which stands for 'all')
+instead.
+
+------------------------------------------------
+$ git commit -a
+------------------------------------------------
A note on commit messages: Though not required, it's a good idea to
begin the commit message with a single short (less than 50 character)
------------------------------------------------
then commit as usual. No special command is required when removing a
-file; just remove it, then commit.
+file; just remove it, then tell `commit` about the file as usual.
At any point you can view the history of your changes using
------------------------------------------------
at this point the two branches have diverged, with different changes
-made in each. To merge the changes made in the two branches, run
+made in each. To merge the changes made in experimental into master, run
------------------------------------------------
$ git pull . experimental
This creates a new directory "myrepo" containing a clone of Alice's
repository. The clone is on an equal footing with the original
-project, posessing its own copy of the original project's history.
+project, possessing its own copy of the original project's history.
Bob then makes some changes and commits them:
------------------------------------------------
$ cd /home/alice/project
-$ git pull /home/bob/myrepo
+$ git pull /home/bob/myrepo master
------------------------------------------------
-This actually pulls changes from the branch in Bob's repository named
-"master". Alice could request a different branch by adding the name
-of the branch to the end of the git pull command line.
+This merges the changes from Bob's "master" branch into Alice's
+current branch. If Alice has made her own changes in the meantime,
+then she may need to manually fix any conflicts. (Note that the
+"master" argument in the above command is actually unnecessary, as it
+is the default.)
-This merges Bob's changes into her repository; "git log" will
-now show the new commits. If Alice has made her own changes in the
-meantime, then Bob's changes will be merged in, and she will need to
-manually fix any conflicts.
+The "pull" command thus performs two operations: it fetches changes
+from a remote branch, then merges them into the current branch.
-A more cautious Alice might wish to examine Bob's changes before
-pulling them. She can do this by creating a temporary branch just
-for the purpose of studying Bob's changes:
+You can perform the first operation alone using the "git fetch"
+command. For example, Alice could create a temporary branch just to
+track Bob's changes, without merging them with her own, using:
-------------------------------------
$ git fetch /home/bob/myrepo master:bob-incoming
-------------------------------------
which fetches the changes from Bob's master branch into a new branch
-named bob-incoming. (Unlike git pull, git fetch just fetches a copy
-of Bob's line of development without doing any merging). Then
+named bob-incoming. Then
-------------------------------------
$ git log -p master..bob-incoming
shows a list of all the changes that Bob made since he branched from
Alice's master branch.
-After examing those changes, and possibly fixing things, Alice can
-pull the changes into her master branch:
+After examining those changes, and possibly fixing things, Alice
+could pull the changes into her master branch:
-------------------------------------
$ git checkout master
The last command is a pull from the "bob-incoming" branch in Alice's
own repository.
+Alice could also perform both steps at once with:
+
+-------------------------------------
+$ git pull /home/bob/myrepo master:bob-incoming
+-------------------------------------
+
+This is just like the "git pull /home/bob/myrepo master" that we saw
+before, except that it also stores the unmerged changes from bob's
+master branch in bob-incoming before merging them into Alice's
+current branch. Note that git pull always merges into the current
+branch, regardless of what else is given on the commandline.
+
Later, Bob can update his repo with Alice's latest changes using
-------------------------------------
$ git branch stable v2.5 # start a new branch named "stable" based
# at v2.5
$ git reset --hard HEAD^ # reset your current branch and working
- # directory its state at HEAD^
+ # directory to its state at HEAD^
-------------------------------------
Be careful with that last command: in addition to losing any changes
$ git grep "hello" v2.5
-------------------------------------
-searches for all occurences of "hello" in v2.5.
+searches for all occurrences of "hello" in v2.5.
If you leave out the commit name, git grep will search any of the
files it manages in your current directory. So
-------------------------------------
allows you to browse any commits from the last 2 weeks of commits
-that modified files under the "drivers" directory.
+that modified files under the "drivers" directory. (Note: you can
+adjust gitk's fonts by holding down the control key while pressing
+"-" or "+".)
Finally, most commands that take filenames will optionally allow you
to precede any filename by a commit, to specify a particular version
-fo the file:
+of the file:
-------------------------------------
$ git diff v2.5:Makefile HEAD:Makefile.in
-------------------------------------
+You can also use "git cat-file -p" to see any such file:
+
+-------------------------------------
+$ git cat-file -p v2.5:Makefile
+-------------------------------------
+
Next Steps
----------
smart enough to perform a close-to-optimal search even in the
case of complex non-linear history with lots of merged branches.
- * link:everyday.html[Everday GIT with 20 Commands Or So]
+ * link:everyday.html[Everyday GIT with 20 Commands Or So]
* link:cvs-migration.html[git for CVS users].