A Developer’s Guide to Git: Exploring the Foundations and Best Practices

Git is a distributed version control system used for managing source code and files in software development projects. Here are the key features of Git:

1. Version Control: Git allows recording different versions (commits) of the project, providing a version history.
2. Distributed System: Each user has a complete copy of the project. This facilitates independent work and branching.
3. Branching and Merging: Users can create separate branches for adding new features or fixing bugs and merge these branches back into the main project.
4. Tracking and Reverting: Easily track changes, revert modifications, or roll back to previous versions.
5. Collaboration: Multiple developers can work on the same project and share changes.
6. Lightweight Tagging: Adding tags to the project to mark specific versions.
7. GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket Integration: Platforms integrated with Git for online storage and collaboration.
8. Performance: Git operates efficiently, providing quick performance.

Git is widely used, especially in open-source software development projects.

Installing Git

For Windows Operating System:

1. Visit the official Git website: Git Downloads.
2. On the download page, select the version suitable for Windows and download it.
3. Run the downloaded file to start the installation wizard.
4. Follow the wizard steps to install Git on your computer. Default options are usually acceptable.
5. Once the installation is complete, you can use tools like Git Bash and Git GUI.

For macOS Operating System:

1. Visit the official Git website: Git Downloads.
2. Download the version suitable for macOS.
3. Open the downloaded file and follow the installation wizard.
4. During the installation, select “Command Line Tools” to continue.
5. Once the installation is complete, you can use Git via Terminal or Git GUI.

For Linux Operating System:

Debian/Ubuntu-Based Distributions (Using apt Package Management):

sudo apt update
sudo apt install git

Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS-Based Distributions (Using yum or dnf Package Management):

sudo yum install git

or

sudo dnf install git

For Other Linux Distributions:

Git is available in the repositories of many Linux distributions. You can install Git using the specific package management of your distribution.

To verify the installation, open a terminal or command prompt and type git --version to check if Git is installed.

Git Cheat Sheet:

Configuring Git:

• Set user name:

  git config --global user.name "Your Name"

• Set user email:

  git config --global user.email "your.email@example.com"

Creating Repositories:

• Initialize a new repository:

  git init

• Clone a repository:

  git clone repository_url

Making Changes:

• Check status:

  git status

• Stage changes:

  git add filename

• Commit changes:

  git commit -m "Commit message"

Branching:

• Create a new branch:

  git branch branch_name

• Switch to a branch:

  git checkout branch_name

• Merge branches:

  git merge branch_name

• Delete a branch:

  git branch -d branch_name

Remote Repositories:

• Add a remote repository:

  git remote add origin repository_url

• Push to a remote repository:

  git push -u origin branch_name

• Pull from a remote repository:

  git pull origin branch_name

Undoing Changes:

• Discard changes in working directory:

  git checkout -- filename

• Undo last commit:

  git reset HEAD~1 --soft

Viewing History:

• View commit history:

  git log

• View changes in a commit:

  git show commit_hash

• View differences:

  git diff

Tagging:

• Create annotated tag:

  git tag -a tag_name -m "Tag message"

• Push tags to remote repository:

  git push --tags

This cheat sheet provides quick references for common Git commands. Customize commands based on your specific use case.