Git quickstart

Created 04 February 2008, updated 09 April 2008

Installation

See my installation notes at "Installing Git 1.5.2.3 on Mac OS X Tiger".

Optional modules

See:

"Installing Net::SMTP::SSL for sending patches with Git over secure SMTP"

Initial configuration

# personalize these with your own name and email address
git config --global user.name "Wincent Colaiuta"
git config --global user.email "win@wincent.com"

# colorize output (Git 1.5.5 or later)
git config --global color.ui auto

# colorize output (prior to Git 1.5.5)
git config --global color.status auto
git config --global color.diff auto
git config --global color.branch auto

# and from 1.5.4 onwards, this will works:
git config --global color.interactive auto

# shortcut aliases
git config --global alias.st status
git config --global alias.ci commit
git config --global alias.co checkout

# use Apple opendiff (FileMerge) for resolving conflicts
# it will be invoked when you do a "git mergetool"
git config --global merge.tool opendiff

# this so I can submit patches using git send-email
git config --global sendemail.smtpserver smtp.example.com
git config --global sendemail.aliasesfile ~/.gitaliases
git config --global sendemail.aliasfiletype mailrc

# as of Git 1.5.4 you'll also be able to add this for SMTP-AUTH
git config --global sendemail.smtpuser "user@example.com"
git config --global sendemail.smtppass password
git config --global sendemail.smtpssl true

# shortcut aliases for submitting patches for Git itself
# refer to the "See also" section below for additional information
echo "alias git git@vger.kernel.org" >> ~/.gitaliases
echo "alias junio gitster@pobox.com" >> ~/.gitaliases
echo "alias me win@wincent.com" >> ~/.gitaliases

# another feature that will be available in 1.5.4 onwards
# this is useful when you use topic branches for grouping together logically related changes
git config --global format.numbered auto

# turn on new 1.5 features which break backwards compatibility
git config --global core.legacyheaders false
git config --global repack.usedeltabaseoffset true

The --global switch causes changes to be written into ~/.gitconfig rather than the repository-level config.

For more information on configuration type man git-config in the Terminal.

Useful aliases

# support habits from Subversion/CVS
git config --global alias.st status
git config --global alias.co checkout
git config --global alias.ci commit

# show difference between the HEAD and the index
git config --global alias.staged "diff --cached"

# show difference between working tree and the index
git config --global alias.unstaged diff

# show staged and unstaged changes (what would be committed with "git commit -a")
git config --global alias.both "diff HEAD"

# quick access to oneline log format
git config --global alias.oneline "log --pretty=oneline"

# I'm always amending, so "git amend" is easier than "git ci --amend"
git config --global alias.amend "commit --amend"

Global ignores

Directory-specific ignores can be specified in a file called .gitignore at the top of the directory.

Repository-wide ignores can be specified in .git/info/exclude.

Global ignores can be placed in a file of your choosing (for example, ~/.gitignore) and turned on using:

git config --global core.excludesfile ~/.gitignore

An example ~/.gitignore file might be as simple as:

.DS_Store

For more information type:

man gitignore

PGP setup

Git supports signing of tags using PGP keys.

# download latest version of GnuPG
wget "ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/gnupg/gnupg-1.4.7.tar.bz2"

# verify integrity of download
openssl sha1 gnupg-1.4.7.tar.bz2

# extract 
tar xjvf gnupg-1.4.7.tar.bz2 
cd gnupg-1.4.7

# build
./configure
make
make check

# install
sudo make install

# create a new private/public key pair
gpg --gen-key

# export ASCII version of public key
# (to upload to homepage or public keyserver)
gpg --export -a

To actually sign a tag you pass the -s (or -u) flag to git-tag.

`gitk` setup

gitk works out of the box; for example:

# clone an existing repository
git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/git/git.git

# inspect repository history using gitk
cd git
gitk

Although gitk works with no modifications, it can be tailored to use more readable fonts; I added these lines to my ~/.gitk file:

set mainfont {Monaco 10}
set textfont {Monaco 10}
set uifont {Monaco 10}

A superior alternative to gitk is QGit, although it requires compilation.

Wincent