Documentation/everyday.txt

Everyday GIT With 20 Commands Or So
===================================

GIT suite has over 100 commands, and the manual page for each of
them discusses what the command does and how it is used in
detail, but until you know what command should be used in order
to achieve what you want to do, you cannot tell which manual
page to look at, and if you know that already you do not need
the manual.

Does that mean you need to know all of them before you can use
git?  Not at all.  Depending on the role you play, the set of
commands you need to know is slightly different, but in any case
what you need to learn is far smaller than the full set of
commands to carry out your day-to-day work.  This document is to
serve as a cheat-sheet and a set of pointers for people playing
various roles.

<<Basic Repository>> commands are needed by people who has a
repository --- that is everybody, because every working tree of
git is a repository.

In addition, <<Individual Developer (Standalone)>> commands are
essential for anybody who makes a commit, even for somebody who
works alone.

If you work with other people, you will need commands listed in
<<Individual Developer (Participant)>> section as well.

People who play <<Integrator>> role need to learn some more
commands in addition to the above.

<<Repository Administration>> commands are for system
administrators who are responsible to care and feed git
repositories to support developers.


Basic Repository[[Basic Repository]]
------------------------------------

Everybody uses these commands to feed and care git repositories.

  * gitlink:git-init-db[1] or gitlink:git-clone[1] to create a
    new repository.

  * gitlink:git-fsck-objects[1] to validate the repository.

  * gitlink:git-prune[1] to garbage collect crufts in the
    repository.

  * gitlink:git-repack[1] to pack loose objects for efficiency.

Individual Developer (Standalone)[[Individual Developer (Standalone)]]
----------------------------------------------------------------------

A standalone individual developer does not exchange patches with
other poeple, and works alone in a single repository, using the
following commands.

  * gitlink:git-show-branch[1] to see where you are.

  * gitlink:git-diff[1] and gitlink:git-status[1] to see what
    you are in the middle of doing.

  * gitlink:git-log[1] to see what happened.

  * gitlink:git-whatchanged[1] to find out where things have
    come from.

  * gitlink:git-checkout[1] and gitlink:git-branch[1] to switch
    branches.

  * gitlink:git-update-index[1] to manage the index file.

  * gitlink:git-commit[1] to advance the current branch.

  * gitlink:git-reset[1] and gitlink:git-checkout[1] (with
    pathname parameters) to undo changes.

  * gitlink:git-pull[1] with "." as the remote to merge between
    local branches.

  * gitlink:git-rebase[1] to maintain topic branches.


Individual Developer (Participant)[[Individual Developer (Participant)]]
------------------------------------------------------------------------

A developer working as a participant in a group project needs to
learn how to communicate with others, and uses these commands in
addition to the ones needed by a standalone developer.

  * gitlink:git-pull[1] from "origin" to keep up-to-date with
    the upstream.

  * gitlink:git-push[1] to shared repository if you adopt CVS
    style shared repository workflow.

  * gitlink:git-format-patch[1] to prepare e-mail submission, if
    you adopt Linux kernel-style public forum workflow.


Integrator[[Integrator]]
------------------------

A fairly central person acting as the integrator in a group
project receives changes made by others, reviews and integrates
them and publishes the result for others to use, using these
commands in addition to the ones needed by participants.

  * gitlink:git-am[1] to apply patches e-mailed in from your
    contributors.

  * gitlink:git-pull[1] to merge from your trusted lieutenants.

  * gitlink:git-format-patch[1] to prepare and send suggested
    alternative to contributors.

  * gitlink:git-revert[1] to undo botched commits.

  * gitlink:git-push[1] to publish the bleeding edge.


Repository Administration[[Repository Administration]]
------------------------------------------------------

A repository administrator uses the following tools to set up
and maintain access to the repository by developers.

  * gitlink:git-daemon[1] to allow anonymous download from
    repository.

  * gitlink:git-shell[1] can be used as a 'restricted login shell'
    for shared central repository users.

  * link:howto/update-hook-example.txt[update hook howto] has a
    good example of managing a shared central repository.