Gittin on Git

Scenario

As network engineers, we know our industry is constantly evolving, and staying ahead means embracing tools that can enhance our workflows. While Git isn’t a requirement in my current role, its potential to streamline version control, collaboration, and problem-solving has piqued my interest. This blog series is my way of diving into the world of Git from a beginner’s perspective—documenting my journey, sharing insights, and creating a resource to reference when things (inevitably) go wrong. Whether you’re curious about Git or considering adding it to your skillset, I invite you to join me on this learning adventure.

How to Git Git (Install/Download)

Download Git here https://git-scm.com

Macbooks have git installed automatically

Linux

apt-get install git   (version will not be the same as what is shared on website likely)

Windows

Go to https://git-scm.com and click to download. The site will know you are running windows.

Once installed you can open the program git bash This will allow you to use all of the linux commands usedto work with Git.

Verify Git Version:

Once installed you will want to verify the version you are running

test@servername:~/git/github$ git --version
git version 2.34.1

Now what you’ve Gotten Git, you can finally Git Started (Video 3)

How to Create a Local Git Repository

Create a Folder and then Init

mkdir localrepo
cd localrepo
git init

Below will be outputted

Initialized emtpy Git respository in /Users/test/Desktop/localrepo/.git/
localrepo git:(master)    <-- You see (master) if you are on windows bash

If you do ls -la you will see a .git folder. This is where all your saves are located

test@servername:~$ ls -la | grep git
drwxrwxr-x  8 test test 4096 Oct 25 23:46 .git

Understanding Git files

.gitconfig

This is where your system wide Git configurations are stored. One of the first things that needs to be done after installing git is to apply your name and email. If you are going to commit anything this needs to be set.

Example file

test@servername:~$ cat .gitconfig
[user]
        name = TESTNAME
        email = testname@email.com
test@servername:~$ git config --global --list
user.name=TESTNAME
user.email=testname@email.com

Other files and folders

Here is a list of the files/folders and a description

• config - basic config how to use - you can use
• decription - description of repo
• Head - Current snapshot you are on
• Hooks - Something you can run automatically
• INFO - exclude file - Patterns of files you want to keep out of the Repo like credict card files SSH files
• objects - packs like make it smaller
• refs - check out instances in time

Your first commands to start Git’ting

You will need to set a user name and email.

git config --global user.name 'Test Name'
git config --global user.email@mail.com

How to Remove Git being managed from a folder (delete the .git directory)

• Not sure how but i have .git in upper folder and current folder ———————-REVIEW——————————————————–

  rm -rm .git
  

How to Clone repo from Github

Go to the website and click the “Clone or Download” He did this in his regular desktop folder it created a folder called “fetch” and it becomes a repo automcatically with the folder added. YOU DO NOT NEED TO Configure “git init”

$git clone https://github.com/github/fetch.git
$cd fetch

output will show (In windows)

fetch git:(master)

You will also see new files generated from this compared to just having locally

• packed refs - compressed
• logs - thats whats happening over time of the snapshots
• index - makes sure you can do a lookup of whats happened over time very quickly

What have we learned

How to Git up and Running quick

1. Install Git

2. Configure the .gitconfig file
   • git config –global user.name ‘Test Name’
   • git config –global user.email test@mail.com
3. a. Create Git Locally Create a Folder and then Init

   mkdir localrepo
   cd localrepo
   git init
   

4. b. How to download from Github (You do not need to do ‘git init’) Example of downloading a repo from Github Fetch $git clone https://github.com/github/fetch.git $cd fetch

Either clone Repo. or start new setup and then push to github

Quick Commands

Lists all files including hidden in the directory

ls -la

How to set the default editor to vim

git config --global core.editor vim

If you want notepad++ you need full path like in windows

• Note the ‘\ ‘ This is an escape regex character to symbolize a space

  git config --global core.editor C://Program Files\ Files/Notepad++.exe
  

If you want to list the git config command and get a few more deatis.

git config --list