Git: Getting Started

Question 1

What is a DVCS?

Answer 1

• A DVCS is a type of version control system.
• Each user has a local copy of the complete history of the project (repository).
• Users can work offline.
• Content is synchronized between repositories by pulling content from or pushing content to a remote repository.

Question 2

• What is a git repository?
• What is a commit?
• What is a git branch?
• What is a pull request?

Answer 2

• A series of snapshots or commits.
• Each version of the project is called commit.
• All commits belong to a branch (an independent line of development of the project). By default there is a single branch called master
• Request to merge your branch into another branch.

Question 3

• What is the git basic syntax?

Answer 3

• git [command] [–flags] [arguments]

Example:
git status #check status of the local repository
git status –short #just provides critical status information
git help #displays overall git help
git help init #displays help information for the init command

Question 4

• Explain how to read certain git information, for example what does –flag mean?

Answer 4

• -f or –flag Dash or double dash change the command’s behaviour. For example: –short
• | Vertical bar represents OR
• [optional] Optional values are surrounded by brackets
• <placeholders> are surrounded by angle brackets, indicates where a specific value should be positioned. For example: git commit -m <message>
  </message></placeholders>
• [<optional>]</optional>
• () Parenthesis used for grouping
• – Standalone dashes indicate that what follows is a file or path and are used to avoid ambiguity. For example: git checkout experiment (could be file or path) git checkout −−
  experiment (is a file).

Question 5

What does git config syntax look like? Give example of a use of git config.

Answer 5

Syntax: git config [–local|–global|–system] <key> [<value>]
This information is included in any commit that you make to your repository.
--system: every repository for all users on your computer.
--global: every repository that you as specific user use on your computer.
--local or no flag: only current repository.</value></key>

Example:
git config –global user.name “Maider”
git config –global user.email “maider.abad@esade.edu”

Question 6

Explain what each git location is used for.

Answer 6

Working tree - contains the project file and directories of a single commit

Staging area - contains the list of files that will be included in the next commit

Local repository - Contains all the commits

Remote repository - Contains the commits on a remote dir

Project dir - Contains the working tree and a hidden .git repo that includes the staging area and local repo

Question 7

• What do the following commands do?
  1. git init
  2. git status
  3. git add / git add .
  4. git -m commit ‘message’
  5. git log

Answer 7

1. git init - initialize (create) a git repository.
2. git status - to view the status of the files in the working tree and staging area.
3. git add - to add content to the staging area. / We can add all the untracked or modified files using git add .
4. Adds staging area content to the local repository.
5. git log - to view the commit history.

Question 8

• Does a remote repository have a staging area or a working tree, give an example of a remote repository.

Answer 8

• It is a ‘bare’ repository, there is not staging area or working tree.
• GitHub is a remote git repository option.

Question 9

What is a .gitignore file?

Answer 9

• .gitignore file tells Git which files and directories to ignore when you make a commit.
• You can specify the files or parts of your project you do not want to share.

Question 10

What is git clone used for?
What is git remote -v used for?

Answer 10

• git clone - to create a local copy of a remote repository.
• git clone < url/to/yourproject.git > [localprojectname]
• git remote − − verbose| − v Displays information of the remote repositories associated to
  the local repository

Question 11

How do I add a local repo to a remote one?

Answer 11

• git remote add < name > < url > - to synchronize local and remote repositories.

Question 12

How do i commit to a remote repository?

Answer 12

• git push [−u] [< repository >] [< branch >] - to write commits for a branch to a remote repository. For example: git push −u origin master < repository > can be a name (shortcut) or URL.
  For example: origin or https://github.com/maider-abad/repositoryA.git
  −u tracks the relationship between the local branch and the corresponding remote branch