Git Basics

Core Idea

Git records named checkpoints of source files. In this course, commit source under ~/src; do not treat generated HTML under ~/public_html/ as the source of truth.

The basic loop is:

edit source -> inspect changes -> stage changes -> commit -> push when ready

Practice Alone

Run these from ~/src:

git status
git diff
git add pages/index.md
git status
git commit -m "update homepage"
git log --oneline -3

Use git status before and after staging. It tells you which files are untracked, modified, staged, or clean.

Common Recovery

• nothing to commit: save the file, check that you are in ~/src, then run git status again.
• Missing identity: run git config --global user.name "$(whoami)" and git config --global user.email "$(whoami)@kolamayermakers.org", then retry the commit.
• Scratch file appears in status: add a deliberate .gitignore rule before broad staging.
• Unsure what changed: run git diff before git add.

Done When

You can point to one file and say whether it is unstaged, staged, committed, or pushed.

Docs Pointers

• Read git, git status, git add, git commit, and git log.
• Read Forgejo publishing when you are ready to push.