How to use GIT in Linux
GIT is a revision control system that allows multiple contributors to work on the same projects/files. Is also useful if you have more servers/VMS/workstation that you manage and you want to deploy “recipes”/scripts/configurations on them. With GIT, you work locally, push the changes to the repository server and then get your files from any location you want. GIT tracks the changes made to the files and if a config is not working it can be reverted in no time.
To start learning GIT, I recommend using GitLab, is free, very versatile and your repository will be in private mode. You can also try GitHub, the free version is in public mode (Do not store passwords or sensitive information in your files, if you use repositories that are in public mode).
Also read: List of useful GIT Commands in Linux
Preparing GIT environment
Open Linux Terminal in ROOT mode
sudo bash
Install GIT
Fedora/CentOS/Red Hat
dnf install git
Debian/Mint/Ubuntu
apt-get install git
Install xclip (useful to copy file contents to clipboard)
Fedora/CentOS/Red Hat
dnf install xclip
Debian/Mint/Ubuntu
apt-get install xclip
Create and activate an account on GitLab
Add GIT username
git config –global user.name “USERNAME” git config –global user.name (verify your username)
Add GIT e-mail address
git config –global user.email “[email protected]” git config –global user.email (verify e-mail address) git config –global –list (verify username and e-mail)
Check if your system has an SSH Key so you can link it with your GitLab account
cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub (if it’s displayed something starting with ssh-rsa, you don’t have to follow the next steps about key creation)
Creating SSH key
ssh-keygen -t rsa -C “[email protected]” -b 4096
Changing SSH key (optional)
ssh-keygen -p <keyname>
Copy key to clipboard with xclip
xclip -sel clip < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
Go to your Profile settings in GitLab -> SSH Keys and paste the contents of the clipboard.
Do a checkout on your master branch
git checkout master
Download the latest changes
git pull REMOTE NAME-OF-BRANCH -u
Create a new branch
git checkout -b NAME-OF-BRANCH
Work on the branch
git checkout NAME-OF-BRANCH
View the changes that you have made
git status
Commit your changes
git add file_name.extension git commit -m “short description”
Send changes to your gitlab.com
git push REMOTE NAME-OF-BRANCH
After you have made all the above changes, you can use short commands, git pull to get the latest updates and git push to upload the current modifications.
