Chapter 4: Changes and Commits¶
In this section, we will alter the code. We will start with something small and fix the README.md.
Changing README.md¶
Open the README.md file in your editor and replace the two “FIXMEs” with different text. Save the file.
Now, if you ask git for the status, it will show that README.md has changed.
$: git status
On branch master
Changes not staged for commit:
(use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
(use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
modified: README.md
no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")
We can ask git to show us exactly what changed.
$: git diff
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9493433..718893f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
# chatter
-FIXME
+This is a web app that will display posted messages.
## Prerequisites
@@ -16,4 +16,4 @@ To start a web server for the application, run:
## License
-Copyright © 2014 FIXME
+Copyright © 2014 clojurebridgemn.org
git diff is telling us the README.md file changed. In the example above, we removed the line that said “FIXME” and added a line saying “This is a web app that will display posted messages.” We also changed the FIXME in the copyright to an email address. You should see the specific changes you made in your command line. If you’re having trouble closing the diff you can hit q to quit the diff.
Since we changed the description in the README.md, we might as well change the description in project.clj file. Make the change and save that file too. Now the git status should be:
$: git status
On branch master
Changes not staged for commit:
(use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
(use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
modified: README.md
modified: project.clj
no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")
Adding And Committing The Changes¶
Now that our the changes in the editor are saved, let’s add and commit the changes. Adding files prepares to upload the updated files. Committing actually records a snapshot of files – it puts a timestamp and version description of the current state of the project.
First, add the specific file(s) with “git add + file name”:
$: git add README.md project.clj
Confirm the file was added by checking the status:
$: git status
On branch master
Changes to be committed:
(use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
modified: README.md
modified: project.clj
Two files have been added (modified) and the changes can be
committed. When you enter the git commit command, make sure to enter a description of the changes you are committing; this will help you identify versions and changes. Add a quick note after the file names -m "comment on changes".
$ git commit -m "fixing README.md description"
[master 57aff88] fixing README.md description
2 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
Check the status again:
$: git status
On branch master
nothing to commit, working directory clean
Git status reports no uncommitted changes because we successfully committed the updated files.
You can also the check the log to see what commits have been made, when they were made, and the brief comment on the commit.
$: git log
commit 57aff889c81698394faf8568b63f14130d32599a
Author: crkoehnen <crkoehnen@gmail.com>
Date: Sun Dec 28 17:33:41 2014 -0600
fixing README.md description
commit 44a560f1653770afac01aea2c9279a7af46a46eb
Author: crkoehnen <crkoehnen@gmail.com>
Date: Sun Dec 28 16:43:37 2014 -0600
initial commit
You see two commits: the last commit from our initial commit and our new commit (fixing README.md description).
Pushing to GitHub¶
The final step will be to push our changes to GitHub. This allows other people to view our code changes. Enter the following (you will use your own username and password when prompted):
$: git push origin master
Username for 'https://github.com': crkoehnen
Password for 'https://crkoehnen@github.com':
Counting objects: 4, done.
Delta compression using up to 4 threads.
Compressing objects: 100% (4/4), done.
Writing objects: 100% (4/4), 572 bytes | 0 bytes/s, done.
Total 4 (delta 2), reused 0 (delta 0)
To https://github.com/crkoehnen/chatter.git
44a560f..57aff88 master -> master
Refresh GitHub in your browser and you will see the text and the commit count change in your repository page. Your changes are now available for collaborators to review!
That’s all the command line git we will need for this tutorial. GitHub maintains a list of resources where you can learn more about git and GitHub.
In Chapter 5, we’ll make more to the code.