EP1000

Version Control

Version control is the management of changes to documents, software, web sites and other collections of information. In usual practise, the change of such documentation is done by labelling the filename or document with a number or letter code e.g. v1.01, v4a.

Reasons for version control

Assuming you are writing an essay/paper/code for an assignment that has to be submitted online, have you ever:

Made a change to the work, realised it was a mistake and wanted to revert back?
Lost work or had a backup that was too old?
Had to maintain multiple versions of the assignment ?
Wanted to see the difference between two (or more) versions of your work?
Wanted to prove that a particular change broke orfixed a section of your work?
Wanted to review the history of some work, to see what you deleted? * Wanted to submit a change to someone else’s work, in collaboration with yours?
Wanted to share your work, or let other people help work on your assignment? * Wanted to see how much work is being done, and where when and by whom?
Wanted to experiment with a new feature without interfering with the current working assignment?

If you answered YES to any of the above questions, then you need a version control system.

git

Git is a free and open-source distributed version control system. It is very easy to learn and provides good support for all projects regardless of size. It is also available for different Operating Systems (OS).

git usually works from the CLI (command-line interface), however there are GUI (Graphic User Interfaces) available, which are easier for the beginner.

A summary of the git commands are given in the table, it provides a reference of what we usually use.

Before we use git, we usually need to identify ourselves to git and to the repository

git config --global user.name "John Doe"
git config --global user.emal "jdoe1234@example.com"

You would usually log-in or provide your credentials to the remote repository so that you can access your account.

git command	Purpose
Initialise	Usually done only once to start the repository
git clone	Clones/Copies and downloads a repository to your folder. It is a fast way of making a copy of an existing work. There are Two methods of cloning: SSH and HTTPS. We shall use HTTPS
git init	Initialises a local folder for git
git pull	Brings down a current version of the repository. Works only when the repository already exists. Should always be the first command, before you start any work.
Repeated
git add *	Add any files to the staging area. This will pick up any files which have been updated/added/removeid.
git status	Shows the files in staging area
git commit -m “info on what is done”	Moves the files from the staging area to the local repo
git push	Copies the files from the local pc to the remote repo

There are other commands, however, we will leave them for now until you are fully acquinted with the git process. The following diagram illustrates what usually happens:

Common git commands

Git process

This is a brief outline of the git process done by the Github Desktop (GHD). git uses (traditionally) commands entered on the CLI (command-line interface). Github Desktop specifially uses a GUI to convert actions to this commands.

git config –global user.name “John Doe”
git config –global user.email johndoe@example.com
- GHD > File > Options > Accounts
- Sets up accounts for syncing with the Github repository
- First-Time Git Setup
git init initialises a git repository
- GHD > File > New Repository
- Initialises a new repository for git operations.
- Getting a Git Repository
git clone https://github.com/user/repository.git
- GHD > File > Clone Repository
- Clones a repository from github. The repository name is usually used as the folder name, unless change.
- Getting a Git Repository
git add files
git status - shows new/changed files
- GHD > Files that are highlighted have changed and to be added
- Recording Changes to the Repository
git commit -m “information about change”
- GHD > Summary “information about change”
  Click “Commit to master”
- Adds files to the staging area, ready to be uploaded to the remote repository
- Recording Changes to the Repository
git push
- GHD > Push to repository
- Transfers the files from the staging area to the remote repository on Github
- Working with Remotes

Tutorials for git

There are many tutorials for git (shows you how important git is) and we recommend that you watch at least one Youtube video and walk through one git tutorial.

Youtube videos on git

Colt Steel Learn git in 15 minutes
The Net Ninja Git & GitHub Tutorial for Beginners
Cory Schafer Git Tutorial for Beginners: Command-Line Fundamentals
Others using Google Search

Git Online Tutorials

Got 15 minutes and want to learn Git
Better Explained A Visual Guide To Version Control
git the simple guide
Tower Learn Version Control with Git

References

git for Windows 10

As most of you are working with Microsoft Windows 10, there are a number of versions of git that you can use:

git for windows
install git BASH (CLI) and git GUI (GUI version). Usually users would go fof the git BASH version in this installation as it is the closest to the Linux versions.
Github Desktop
which is a collaboration of git and Github. If you are using git with the GitHub repository, then this is the solution for you. It is the easiest to use and provides the necessary collaboration with the git commands. We recommend that you use this for your repo.

Github Desktop

I’ve already written a guide here for staring a repo using Mr Steven Chew’s web-pk, you can follow the guide here.

Quick links:

Github Desktop for Windows
Mr. Steven Chew’s web-pk repository
Youtube: Dr. Rafeeq Learn how to use Github Desktop 2019

Assignment

The assignment for this class is Assignment 5 Version Control. You will be required to

Familiarize yourself with version control software - git.
Create a version-controlled site on github for this module.
Record your website URL for marking/discussion.

This assignment is only due on Week 5 of this term.

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October 2020