If you are not sure how to start using Git and GitHub, but you already have Git installed, GitHub account created, GitHub desktop app installed, work repository cloned locally and updated.
Alright, now when you create the changes you will not commit them directly to your master branch. What you will do is a bit wiser way. After you are done with your work on specific file you will create a new branch, add a new file and then commit to the new branch, then for the finale you will make a pull request and assign it to your colleague so (s)he can review it and then merge it to a master branch.
Your colleague is your mentor, and you are a mentor to your colleague. Collaboration, and checking each others work will give safety before merging new stuff into already working master branch.
Git
Create New Branch
First, what you want to do is to create a new branch. To start, open up the terminal and navigate to your repository directory. Then type:
git branch [THE NAME OF THE BRANCH]
On which branch am I ?
To check on which branch you are at the moment you should type:
git branch
Switch branches
To switch to another branch, type:
git checkout [THE NAME OF THE BRANCH]
Now your new branch is created locally, first time to push it to remote repository to get tracked, type:
git push -u origin [THE NAME OF THE BRANCH]
Check Status
To see what is the current status of your branch with latest changes, type:
git status
It gives you information about difference between three different trees:
- your working directory
- staging index
- repository
Add Files
Before you make a ‘Commit’ you should add all your changes to your staging directory by typing:
git add .
If you want to add just one specific file, then you type:
git add [NAME OF YOUR FILE]
Check Status
Type:
git status
Now you should get a message “Changes to be committed:…”
Make a Commit
When you added all your changes you are ready for your commit. It is advised to add short yet informative message to a commit.
To create a commit to repository type:
git commit -m “TYPE YOUR MESSAGE HERE”
Check Status
git status
Now you should get a message “nothing to commit, working directory clean”
Make a Push
To upload all the changes to a remote GitHub repository, your first time you should type :
- git push
- github username
- github password
When it is completed, you will get a message ”everything up-to-date”
GitHub
Now when we have our changed files in the remote Github repository we can go ahead and make a pull request to our colleague.
Create a Pull Request
The purpose of new pull request is double checking. A colleague of yours who understands your changes will take a look and decide if it makes sense or you should go back and make couple more edits.
- Open up the GitHub web app
- Navigate to your branch
- Click “Pull requests” button (right-sidebar)
- Click “New pull request” button
- From the dropdown menus “base” vs “compare”, choose “branch: master” and “compare:YOUR BRANCH”
- Click “Create Pull Request” button
- Type desired title
- Type more descriptive text of your file changes
- Click “Send pull request”
- Click “Assignee” and add your colleague
Later on when your code changes are accepted and merged to master you may want to delete branch both local and remote.
To delete local branch, type:
git branch -d [THE NAME OF THE BRANCH]
To delete remote branch, type:
git push origin :[THE NAME OF THE BRANCH]
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