Setting up a Git project http://git.or.cz/gitwiki/QuickStart

If you want to work with an existing project, clone it:

$ git clone <url>

If you do not have an existing git project, create one:

$ cd project/
$ git init # initializes the repository
$ git add . # add those 'unknown' files
$ git commit # commit all changes, edit changelog entry

Git will look for a file named .gitignore in the root of your repository which contains a set of shell patterns to ignore in file paths.

Branching and merging

$ git checkout -b linux-work # create a new branch named "linux-work"
$ <make changes>
$ git commit -a
$ git checkout master # go back to master branch
$ git merge linux-work # merge changesets from linux-work (Git >= 1.5)
$ git pull . linux-work # merge changesets from linux-work (all Git versions)

Importing patches

$ git apply < ../p/foo.patch
$ git commit -a

Exporting a patch

$ <make changes>
$ git commit -a -m "commit message"
$ git format-patch HEAD^ # creates 0001-commit-message.txt
# (HEAD^ means every patch since one revision before the
# tip of the branch, also known as HEAD)

Network support

# clone from the primary Git repo
foo$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/git/git.git
foo$ cd git

# pushing changes to a remote repo with SSH
foo$ git push user@example.com:my-repository.git/

# fetch changes to a remote branch into a local branch
foo$ git fetch user@example.com:my-repository.git/ remote-branch:local-branch

# merge changes from a remote machine
bar$ git pull git://foo/repo.git/ branch

# Serve repository via git protocol
foo$ cd /my/repository/
foo$ touch .git/git-daemon-export-ok
foo$ git daemon # now others can fetch from git://your.machine/my/repository/.git/

# Set up a bare (= without working directory) repository (e.g. on a webserver)
foo$ mkdir my-repo.git
foo$ cd my-repo.git
foo$ git --bare init
foo$ chmod a+x hooks/post-update # this is needed for HTTP transport
# you need to populate this repository via push

Inspecting revisions

# inspect history visually
foo$ gitk # this opens a Tk window, and shows you how the revisions are connected

# inspect history
foo$ git log # this pipes a log of the current branch into your PAGER
foo$ git log -p # ditto, but append a patch after each commit message

# inspect a specific commit
foo$ git show HEAD # show commit info, diffstat and patch
# of the tip of the current branch

Referring to revisions

# by name
foo$ git log v1.0.0 # show history leading up to tag "v1.0.0"
foo$ git log master # show history of branch "master"

# relative to a name
foo$ git show master^ # show parent to last revision of master
foo$ git show master~2 # show grand parent to tip of master
foo$ git show master~3 # show great grand parent to tip of master (you get the idea)

# by output of "git describe"
foo$ git show v1.4.4-g730996f # you get this string by calling "git describe"

# by hash (internally, all objects are identified by a hash)
foo$ git show f665776185ad074b236c00751d666da7d1977dbe
foo$ git show f665776 # a unique prefix is sufficient

# tag a revision
foo$ git tag v1.0.0 # make current HEAD known as "v1.0.0"
foo$ git tag interesting v1.4.4-g730996f # tag a specific revision (not HEAD)

Comparing revisions

# diff between two branches
foo$ git diff origin..master # pipes a diff into PAGER
foo$ git diff origin..master > my.patch # pipes a diff into my.patch

# get diffstat of uncommitted work
foo$ git diff --stat HEAD

Cherry picking patches

foo$ git cherry-pick other-branch~3 # apply 4th last patch of other-branch to current branch