git notes main page | gitolite main page | license

IMPORTANT NOTE: although this page has a "gitolite.com" URL, this is not about gitolite. That's just an artifact of "sitaramc.github.com" being translated to "gitolite.com" and so ALL my git related stuff gets carried over. Gitolite documentation has another /gitolite in the URL, so you can tell. My apologies for this confusion.

tips for legacy VCS migrants!

• gotcha: git add somefile adds the current content of somefile to the staging area. Changes made after this do not affect git commit unless you again do a git add or use the -a option to git commit.

• gotcha: commit means to your local repo, not to the “server”!

• these commands/options effectively bypass the “index” or “staging area”, but the INDEX is really a wonderful concept, and you really should not bypass it like this. See why the index is useful or https://blogs.gnome.org/newren/2007/12/08/limbo-why-users-are-more-error-prone-with-git-than-other-vcses/

  git diff HEAD       # to see changes you made
  git add             # to tell git about new files...
  git commit -a       # ...and let git figure out changed and deleted files before committing

• CVS equivalence

  CVS                 GIT
  ---                 ---
  checkout            clone
  update              pull
  checkin             commit + push
  add                 add
  remove              rm
  ???                 mv