Git 101

Git Workflow Components

Working Directory: Your local workspace where you edit files. Changes here are not tracked until moved to the staging area.
Staging Area: A prep zone for changes to be committed. You can selectively choose which changes to include in a commit.
HEAD: The latest commit in the current branch, acting as a pointer to your most recent work.
Local Repository: Your computer's storage for all your commits, branches, and the entire change history. It operates independently of network access.
Remote Repository: A server-hosted repository (e.g., GitLab, GitHub) for code sharing and backup. It syncs with the local repository through push and pull commands.

Git File Status

Tracked vs Untracked Files

Tracked files are those that Git knows about and has in its version history.
Untracked files are new or unrecorded files in your working directory that Git isn't keeping track of yet; e.g. temp/, auto_settings.sav*, auto_positions.sav*, etc.

Staged vs Unstaged

Staged files are those that have been marked for inclusion in the next commit, showing Git exactly what changes you want to commit.
Unstaged files are the modified files in your working directory that have not been marked for the next commit yet.

Basic Commands Cheat Sheet

Syncing with Remote Repository

To download updates from the remote repository without merging them:

$ git fetch

To fetch changes from the remote repository and merge them into your current branch:

$ git pull

To push local commits to the remote repository:

$ git push # pushes your commits to the remote repository

To view the remote repository information:

$ git remote -v # lists the remote repositories and their URLs

Viewing Changes and Status

To see the status of the working directory and staging area:

$ git status

To list the commit history:

$ git log

To view differences since the last commit:

$ git diff <file>

To see tracked files:

$ git ls-files

Committing Changes

To commit a single tracked file (file to staging area and commit changes in two steps):

$ git add <file>   
$ git commit -m 'commit message'

To commit all tracked files at once, use option -a (add to staging area and commit in a single step):

$ git commit -am 'commit message'

More details

Git Fetch vs. Git Pull

git fetch is a command that downloads changes from a remote repository, but doesn't integrate any of these changes into your working files. It's essentially a safe way to review changes before integrating them into your local repository.

git pull is a command that not only downloads changes from the remote repository but also immediately attempts to merge them into the branch you are currently working on. It is a combination of git fetch followed by git merge.

Basic Workflow Example

To add new files: $ git add <newfile>

To modify files: $ git add <modifiedfile>

To commit changes: $ git commit -m 'Description of changes'

To push to the remote repository: $ git push origin <branch>

Ignoring Files

.gitignore lists files and folders to be ignored. To update the list, just use any file editor.