Git Tutorial

This project aims to simplify and guide beginners in making their first GitHub contribution simply by following the steps below.

If you're not comfortable with command line, here are tutorials using GUI tools.

If you don't have git on your machine, install it first.

Fork this repository

Fork this repository by clicking on the fork button on the top of this page. This will create a copy of this repository in your account.

Clone the repository

Now clone the forked repository to your machine. Go to your GitHub account, open the forked repository, click on the code button and then click the copy to clipboard icon.

Open a terminal and run the following git command:

git clone "url you just copied"

where "url you just copied" (without the quotation marks) is the url to this repository (your fork of this project). See the previous steps to obtain the url.

For example:

git clone https://github.com/Wake-Tech-Programming-Club/git-tutorial.git

Here you're copying the contents of this repository on GitHub to your computer.

Create a branch

Change to the repository directory on your computer (if you are not already there):

cd git-tutorial

Now create a branch using the git checkout command:

git checkout -b your-new-branch-name

For example:

git checkout -b add-alonzo-church

(The name of the branch does not need to have the word add in it, but it's a reasonable thing to include because the purpose of this branch is to add your name to a list.)

Make necessary changes and commit those changes

Now open Contributors.md file in a text editor, add your name to it. Don't add it at the beginning or end of the file. Put it anywhere in between. Now, save the file.

If you go to the project directory and execute the command git status, you'll see there are changes.

Add those changes to the branch you just created using the git add command:

git add Contributors.md

Now commit those changes using the git commit command:

git commit -m "Add <your-name> to Contributors list"

replacing <your-name> with your name.

Push changes to GitHub

Push your changes using the command git push:

git push origin <add-your-branch-name>

replacing <add-your-branch-name> with the name of the branch you created earlier.

Submit your changes for review

If you go to your repository on GitHub, you'll see a Compare & pull request button. Click on that button.

Now submit the pull request.

Every so often, someone in charge of the repo will merge your changes into the main branch of this project. If you setup to be notified, you will receive a notification email once the changes have been merged.

Congrats! You just completed the standard fork -> clone -> edit -> pull request workflow that you'll encounter often as a contributor!

Where to go from here?

Check out advanced git topics found in this git repo:

Git Workflow Scenarios

Tutorials Using Other Tools

GitHub Desktop	Visual Studio 2017	GitKraken	Visual Studio Code	IntelliJ IDEA

Acknowledgements

This repo was originally created by FirstContributions but forked and modified for use by the Wake Technical Programming Club. As with the original, this repo is under the same MIT License which can be found here.