Add more issues and their respective solutions in the 'Common Issues' section of gitfaq. Signed-off-by: Shourya Shukla <shouryashukla.oo@xxxxxxxxx> --- Documentation/gitfaq.txt | 72 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 72 insertions(+) diff --git a/Documentation/gitfaq.txt b/Documentation/gitfaq.txt index 3ca16b1092..ccc14774ba 100644 --- a/Documentation/gitfaq.txt +++ b/Documentation/gitfaq.txt @@ -223,6 +223,78 @@ a file checked into the repository which is a template or set of defaults which can then be copied alongside and modified as appropriate. This second, modified file is usually ignored to prevent accidentally committing it. +[[rebasing-and-merging]] +How do I know when to merge or rebase?:: + Rebasing and merging two entirely different concepts with different utiilites. + In Git terms, rebasing means to place changes made in one branch over another branch + (called base, hence the term rebase). The commit history of the branch wanting to rebase + get placed over the branch on the receiving end and it appears as if those changes took + place in the receiving branch itself. Merging, as the name suggests, merges the latest + commit of one branch onto the recent branch, making this combination appear as one separate + commit. ++ +As an additional tip, one can use interactive rebasing, `git rebase -i`, to perform rebasing +using a text editor GUI (the value of $GIT_EDITOR). Interactive rebase is an excellent utility +to perform various functions such as editing commit messages, dropping/squashing commits, editing +commits, etc. in one package. + +[[files-in-.gitignore-are-tracked]] +I asked Git to ignore various files, yet they show up as changes in my staging area:: + One uses `.gitignore` to ignore files from getting tracked in the working tree. This ignores + the aforementioned files for the whole lifetime of the project unless they area removed from + the `.gitignore`. But, `.gitignore` will only ignore the files which were not a part of the + repository when they were mentioned in the `.gitignore`. Hence, addition of a file to `.gitignore` + after it was added to the working tree will have no effect and Git will keep tracking them. + To prevent this from happening, one has to use `git rm --cached <file>` to remove the file + from the staging area(i.e. the cache) and not from the repository. + +[[changing-remote-of-the-repository]] +I want to change the remote of my repository. How do I do that?:: + A remote is an identifier for a location to which Git pushes your changes as well as fetches + any new changes(if any). There might be different circumstances in which one might need to change + the remote: + 1. One might want to update the url of their remote; in that case, the command to use is, + `git remote set-url <name> <newurl>`. + + 2. One might want to have two different remotes for fetching and pushing; this generally + happens in case of triangular workflows. In this case, it is advisable to create a + separate remote just for fetching/pushing. But, another way can be to change the push + url using the `--push` option in the `git set-url` command. + +[[fetching-and-pulling]] +How do I know if I want to do a fetch or a pull?:: + A fetch brings in the latest changes made upstream(i.e. the remote repository we are working on). + This allows us to inspect the changes made upstream and integrate all those changes(iff we want to) + or only cherry pick certain changes. Fetching does not have any immediate effects on the local + repository. + + A pull is a wrapper for a fetch and merge. This means that doing a `git pull` will not only fetch the + changes made upstream but integrate them as well with our local repository. The merge may go smoothly + or have merge conflicts depending on the case. A pull does not allow you to review any changes made + upstream but rather merge those changes on their own. ++ +This is the reason why it is sometimes advised to fetch the changes first and then merge them accordingly +because not every change might be of utility to the user. + +[[checking-out]] +What is checking out a commit/branch? How do I perform one?:: + In Git terminology, checking out means updating the current working tree with a another commit or + even a separate tree(which would translate to a branch). This means that if I were to: + 1. Go to another commit, to lets say modify stuff in that commit; I would be "checking out" + to that commit and enter a "detached HEAD" state, meaning, that the "pointer" called HEAD + which tells me where I am right now in my working tree is not where it generally should be, + i.e., the latest commit(or the tip of the branch). I can now work upon the checked out + commit and make any changes or just inspect the files at that state. + + 2. Go to another branch or create another branch; I would be "checking out" to another tree + in my local repository. One might expect to enter a detached HEAD here as well but in fact + does not. This is because HEAD would point to the tip of the checked out branch, something + which is not a characteristic of a detached HEAD. ++ +To checkout to a commit, one can either pass the SHA1 of the commit to be checked out or a reference to it wrt +the HEAD. To checkout to another already existing branch, one should use `git checkout <branch-name>`. +Also, one can create a new branch as well as checkout to it at the same time using `git checkout -b <new-branch-name>`. + Hooks ----- -- 2.20.1
