Git Essentials - A Developer's Guide to Git

Git Essentials is a book for for all developers, beginner to advanced, and written to get you up to speed with the world's most popular version control system. Git has become synonymous with VCSs and is expected to be in the wheelhouse of every developer as one of the most fundamental tools used to coordinate software development.Stop turning to Google every time you need to commit some code, create a feature branch, or tag a release. With this book, you'll actually learn Git instead of just memorize the commands. We're all guilty of copy-pasting Git commands from the first result that shows up in Google, but the important question we're missing is - is that really the right thing for our situation? Learning and understanding these commands will help you become a more productive member of your team.This book assumes no prior experience with Git, it applies to any operating system, and will work with any source files that can be version controlled. It covers almost everything you need to know, from why version control systems are considered fundamental tools to the basics of Git to advanced operations and best practices.Contents• Introduction• Prerequisites• Source Code Management• Getting Started• The Basics of Git• Branching• Remote• Branching Models• Advanced Operations• Good/Bad Practices• Conclusion Table of Contents 4 1. Getting Started with Git 6 2. Source Code Management - SCM 8 What is Git? 9 3. Getting Started with Git 13 Installing Git 13 Basic Setup 15 Hello, Git! 17 4. The Basics of Git 19 Demo Project 19 Git Repositories 19 Git Commits 21 Index and Staging Area 24 Ignore Files in a Repository 32 5. Branches 35 Working on a Branch 36 Committing Changes to Different Branches 38 Gathering Branches Together 40 Deleting a Branch 51 Renaming a Branch 52 6. Remote Repositories 54 What is a Remote Repository? 54 Setting up a Remote Repository 55 Tracking Branches 64 Sending and Retrieving Remote Modifications 65 7. Branching Models - Strategies 72 What's a Branching Model? 72 Trunk-Based 72 Feature Branching 74 GitHub Flow 75 Git Flow 76 Which One to Choose? 78 8. Advanced Operations 80 Stash 81 Tag 85 Reset 91 Revert 93 Cherry-pick 97 Git Diffs 98 Amending Commits 102 Interactive Rebase 102 Interactive Staging 105 9. Good/Bad Practices 114 Commit Often 114 Write Meaningful Commit Messages 115 Rebase Often from the Main Branch 116 Don't Rebase the Main Branch 118 Don't Commit Generated Files 118 Push Often 118 Squash Before Going on the Main Branch 119 Don't Cherry-Pick Often 119 Git Essentials is a book for for all developers, beginner to advanced, and written to get you up to speed with the world's most popular version control system. Git has become synonymous with VCSs and is expected to be in the wheelhouse of every developer as one of the most fundamental tools used to coordinate software development. Stop turning to Google every time you need to commit some code, create a feature branch, or tag a release. With this book, you'll actually learn Git instead of just memorize the commands. We're all guilty of copy-pasting Git commands from the first result that shows up in Google, but the important question we're missing is - is that really the right thing for our situation? Learning and understanding these commands will help you become a more productive member of your team. This book assumes no prior experience with Git, it applies to any operating system, and will work with any source files that can be version controlled. It covers almost everything you need to know, from why version control systems are considered fundamental tools to the basics of Git to advanced operations and best practices.