Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency.

Git is easy to learn and has a tiny footprint with lightning fast performance. It outclasses SCM tools like Subversion, CVS, Perforce, and ClearCase with features like cheap local branching, convenient staging areas, and multiple workflows.

• Better branching
  
• Better merging
  
• Changes can be made offline
  
• Open Source
  
• Huge Developer community
  
• Better Workflows (any)
  
• Lightning fast and small
  

• Git works the same as Bazaar and Hg (Mercurial)
  
• It does not work the same as SVN or TFS (online models)
  

• When you pull your code down, you have a copy of the entire repo from the server.
  
• That means every check-in, every diff
  
• When you check-in, you are making a commit to your local repository (local)
  
• You must "push" your code to an "origin"
  

Download Git

Install Git First

then

Install Git Extensions and disable msysgit

This is the easiest way to get started

You can perform these steps from the command line

Load Git Extensions

Choose the British Flag for English

First we must generate an ssh key

Click on the Generate button.

Move the mouse around to create random data.

Save the public and private key. Make sure a keyphase is set.

Place the files in c:\users\[your name]\.ssh

Click on Account Settings

Under ssh keys, you will see your existing list.

You will see you can't just copy your public key in, you need to add ssh-rsa to the front. Also it must be the public, not the ppk file.

You may need to click Load SSH key, choose the PPK file and enter the passphrase. Your changes will now upload.

Main UI. Click Create New Repository

Choose the destination folder and Click Initialize.

It will create the folder it if it is missing.

Click on Add Default ignores and it will create a good starting set. Click Save

Click on the Commit button in the toolbar. Choose the Stage All button

Notice the file has been moved. Click on the commit button (not shown) in lower left corner.

Go to github.com to your profile and click on the icon next to your name.

Provide a Repository name and a description. Click Create Repository

You will be provided with step by step directions for the command line tools. Copy the ssh path.

In order to push code, you will need the ssh path

Set the name to origin and copy the ssh path from the repository screen on github into the url. Optionally browse to your ssh key now so it will be saved with the repo.

You will want to pull the repo down first just to make sure you do not have conflicts before you push.

Now you will be able to push your code. You will see origin is selected and master is the branch name.

You will also need to set a tracking reference locally to make changes.

You may also run git branch hotfix then git checkout hotfix

Set the name and click the Create Branch button.

Both the master and Hotfix branch are current.

We made a change to the readme.md file, changing the text to v1.0.1 and also changed the Name.

Once you make the change, you can switch back to master so we can merge that changes.

Choose the Hotfix branch, right click and choose Merge into current branch. The HotFix tag shows you will be merged. You may also be presented to origin branches if they exist.

Choose Always create a new merge conflict, otherwise your changes will be "fast forwarded" into the master branch like they always existed there. If you are doing short lived local branches you may want to fast forward.

You can see the changes were merged and the lines come together to the same point.

Once the changes are pushed you will see the tracking branches are labeled showing that master is up to date on the server.

You must configure github first. By choosing this, you will authenticate, allowing you to pull a list of repositories.

Choose fork / clone repository under Github.

Once it is installed, the application will search for existing repositories on your machine.

By typing in the box, the list will narrow down to items that start with the search term. Notice it also shows the history.

Once you choose a repository, the last commit is chosen and the files checked in are listed on the left.

By clicking on the double arrow on the right of the file name, you will expand the diff.

By clicking the branch icon, you can switch branches or merge by clicking on the manage button.

You drag and drop the branches on the squares at the bottom.

There is none. I had to dump to the shell

Once you make a change, the uncommitted changes will turn yellow, allowing you to commit the changes.

All you need to do is click sync.

Click on the add button.

For some reason, it did not auto select it. It may have been because I had a filter.

Github for Windows will ask if you would like the gitignore and gitattributes file added. Create a commit message and commit.

It appears that until you push once on a new repository created on the client, sync becomes publish. It does the same thing.

If you went to Github, you would see your changes.

This is the master readme file that is displayed on the home page of the repository.

Click on the icon next to master. Type Hotfix in the box under branches.

In the Hotfix branch, you update the readme.md file to state the new version and check it in.

Hotfix into master. Click Merge.

Choose any file for any commit.

Right click and choose File History

You can view the code for that check-in or any check-in for that file.

Find out exactly who changed what line when.

As you mouse over, it will display the check-in information.

One day you will see this. Luckily this is not SVN or the old TFS

You can choose no, and your merge will end. You will not loose a thing.

Every file that is conflicted will display in the list. You can manually change it or use the tools.

I don't always get this but when you click Start Mergetool, sometimes this command line application comes up. Hit return.

Beyond Compare 3 Professional is the best tool for merging.

I manually took the version line from local (branch we are merging too) and the description from remote (branch we are merging from)

You can still back out

Depending on your options, an orig file is created. I ignore it

By adding *.orig to the ignore file, you will never see the new files again. They are ignored.

In the comment window you would see that it was a merge. Notice that I kept v1.0.4 from master and appended HotFix Branch

If you work in branches, you want to pull master back into your branch.

Merge changes back from master.

All of the code from master is now in Hotfix

Lets say you would like the Cherry Pick check-in in the master branch but not Second Change.

Notice the difference in the second check-in.

The first thing you do is change to master.

Right click on the check-in and choose cherry pick.

You will then be provided with the verify screen.

You now have a copy of the commit. Notice the hash is different

The hash is different since the parents are different.

Notice the second change is not in the resulting file.

When pushing, choose push multiple branches. Only current will be sent otherwise.

Notice the origins are both updated.

When you pull for the first time, you should end up on master but you see all of this other grey stuff above it.

You need to verify that you would like a new local branch.

You may add any remote (fork or not) just be obtaining the read-only url.

Choose manage remotes on the remotes menu option. This can also be done from the command line using git remote add

You actually are running a git fetch on every remote.

You can see that develop is farther than master.

This is where I start to determine which remotes to import

Since I have everything from the master, the repo does not display

You can even use pull requests from a branch of your own repository.

You have to be careful because if you add more check-ins to the branch, they are included in the pull request.