Distributed Version Control

To seriously get into git, I recommend working through the "git book".

Installation

Using a Debian-based Linux distribution, type

sudo apt install git git-gui git-cola

to install git and two different GUI front-ends. If you're on Windows, download git from git-scm.com (a portable edition is available).

Basic Configuration

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "you@your.provider.eu"
git config --global core.editor $YOUR_FAVORITE_EDITOR
git config --global -e  # show/ edit config file if desired

Selected Commands

Command Explanation
init create an empty Git repository or reinitialize an existing one
status Show the working tree status
add Add file contents to the index
commit Record changes to the repository
push Update remote refs along with associated objects
diff Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc
log Show commit logs
pull Fetch from and integrate with another repository or a local branch
clone Clone a repository into a new directory

Git Cheat Sheet

A great overview of the structure of git workflows and their associated commands is available as cheat sheet.

To understand and practice branching with git, https://learngitbranching.js.org/ offers an interactive tutorial.

Generate and Upload SSH-key

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 # omitting the type would generate an RSA key

When being prompted for the filename, leave the default value. Navigate to ~/.ssh/ (on Linux) resp. /cygdrive/c/Users/[USERNAME]/.ssh (on Windows). Print the key to standard output via

cat id_ed25519.pub

Copy the key and paste it in your GitHub (Settings → SSH and GPG keys → New SSH key) or GitLab (Preferences → SSH Keys) profile.

Git Hosting Platforms

Branching Models

Which branching models is to be preferred depends on the needs of an organization or of a development team. I generally recommend to keep things simple. Here are some of the most prevalent models: