Git Terminology
- Version Control
- A category of software tools that help a software team manage changes to source code over time.
- Repository (aka repo)
- Technically, a collection of commits, and branches and tags to identify commits. You can think of a repo as a directory of code that is tracked using Git.
- Local Repository
- A repo that is located on your local machine.
- Remote Repository
- A repo that is located on another machine or server. For the purposes of this course, all of your remote repos will be located on GitHub.
- Initialize a Repository
- A method of creating a new repo in the current directory using the
git init command.
- Linking a Repository
- To associate a local repo on your system to a remote repo (i.e. on GitHub). This is done automatically when you clone a repo. Otherwise, a link can be created using the
git remote command.
- Clone a Repository
- A method of copying a remote repo to your local system using the
git clone command.
- Fork a Repository
- A GitHub feature that allows you to copy a third-party GH repo into your GH account. Note: this is not a native Git feature.
- Commit Changes to a Repository
- A saved "snapshot" of the repo at any given time using the
git commit command.
- Unstaged changes
- Changes to a file (modified, moved or deleted) that have not been added to the staging area.
- Staged file
- A file that has changes ready to be commited. Files are staged using the
git add.
- Untracked file
- A file that has never been staged using
git add.
- Stage a File(s) to be Committed
- Git is an "opt-in" environment. Changes to a file need to be "staged" before they can be committed to a repo. You do this using the
git add command.
- Pull Changes from a Remote Repository
- To update a local repo with the commits from a remote repo using the
git pull command. This needs to be done before you can push changes (assuming the local and remote repos are out of sync).
- Push Changes to a Remote Repository
- To synchronize a remote repo with the commits from a local repo using the
git push command.
