Getting Latest and Making Changes
This post in the series looks at getting help, getting the latest content from the remote repository, and making changes in the workspace and local repository. It also includes comparing the workspace with the local repository.
Series Outline
- Setup
- Getting Latest and Making Changes
- Pushing, Fetching, and Viewing History
- Merging and Managing Branches
- Stashes and Reverting Work
- Miscellaneous / Wrap-up
Getting / Cloning the Remote Repository
While git clone is often just used to initially create the remote repository locally, it can also be handy to clone the repo to another folder temporarily. With 2 local repos I could be on 2 different versions of the app at the same time. I may want to run different versions of the app in multiple instances of Visual Studio to debug and compare behavior, for example. Another use case is if I need to do a code review of another developer’s work on a different branch but have several pending changes on my current branch. Stashing could work for that case (more on that in a later post) but a second “sandbox” repo can be easier in cases.
. allowed the contents to go directly there, instead of ending up with an extra root level folder. Alternatively I could’ve started the clone another folder level up and omitted ..C:\source\myproject> git clone https://myusername@bitbucket.org/company/repo.git .
Cloning into '.'...
remote: Counting objects: 12999, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (12418/12418), done.
remote: Total 12999 (delta 9573), reused 552 (delta 333)
Receiving objects: 100% (12999/12999), 4.29 MiB | 1.89 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (9573/9573), done.
C:\source\myproject [master ≡]>
Note that posh-git status changes to [master ≡]. The branch master is the default branched locally since that’s the currently active branch from the cloned repository. The “≡” means the local branch is at the same commit level as the remote branch (identical).
Getting Help
Before going too far with Git commands, it’s good to know how to get help (besides Google). Usinggit help will show a list of the most commonly used commands. For help with a specific command I initially tried git commandName help. That seemed to try to launch an HTML file and for some reason that doesn’t currently work on my Windows 10 machine – it gets stuck in an indefinite “Open With” dialog, apparently for security reasons (File Open works). In any event, using git commmandName -help worked for me.C:\source\myproject [master ≡]> git status -help
usage: git status [<options>] [--] <pathspec>...
-v, --verbose be verbose
-s, --short show status concisely
-b, --branch show branch information
--porcelain[=<version>]
machine-readable output
--long show status in long format (default)
-z, --null terminate entries with NUL
-u, --untracked-files[=<mode>]
show untracked files, optional modes: all, normal, no. (Default: all)
--ignored show ignored files
--ignore-submodules[=<when>]
ignore changes to submodules, optional when: all, dirty, untracked. (Default: all)
--column[=<style>] list untracked files in columns
--no-lock-index do not lock the index
Getting Latest
Before starting a new feature, I generally switch to the develop branch (if not already there) with git checkout develop. Then I use git pull to pull the latest changes. Behind the scenes that does a git fetch to get the latest repo history info into my local git repo (.git folder), and then does a git merge to merge the remote branch changes with my current local branch. Getting the latest changes ensures I’m current before starting a new branch from develop.
I generally only do this when the following is true:
- There are no uncommitted changes in my working tree – otherwise I might be forced to commit or stash them first.
- There are no unpushed commits in the branch I’m pulling (develop here).
- I either already have some idea already of what changes I’m pulling, or some level of confidence that my team isn’t committing risky, unvetted changes into develop.
git pull involves a merge, it can leave me with merge conflicts. If the above statements are not true then I’m generally using other commands mentioned in later posts in this series.Switching to the Source Branch (Develop)
Since git pull will pull changes into my current branch, I need to be on the branch I want the latest code pulled into – develop in this case. Switching branches with git checkout will update my workspace files to the state of that branch.
C:\source\myproject [Feature/TestProjectConvert ≡ +32 ~46 -0 ~]> git checkout develop error: Your local changes to the following files would be overwritten by checkout: Company.MyApp.sln Company.MyApp.Tests.Integration/Company.MyApp.Tests.Integration.csproj Company.MyApp.Tests.Integration/packages.config Please commit your changes or stash them before you switch branches. AbortingSwitching branches will go smoothly if my workspace is clean.
C:\source\myproject [master ≡]> git checkout develop Switched to branch 'develop' Your branch is behind 'origin/develop' by 3 commits, and can be fast-forwarded. (use "git pull" to update your local branch) C:\source\myproject [develop ↓3]>
Pulling Changes
Once in the develop branch I’m ready to pull the changes withgit pull.C:\source\myproject [develop ↓3]> git pull remote: Counting objects: 66, done. remote: Compressing objects: 100% (66/66), done. remote: Total 66 (delta 47), reused 0 (delta 0) Unpacking objects: 100% (66/66), done. From https://bitbucket.org/company/repo babc1ba..d598a79 develop -> origin/develop 82abcb2..8095ecd Feature/AppWillPersistRules -> origin/Feature/AppWillPersistRules babc1ba..fa1cc9e Feature/MenuItemSearchChangeHintText -> origin/Feature/MenuItemSearchChangeHintText Updating babc1ba..d598a79 Fast-forward .../DTOs/Menus/RelatedMenuItem.cs | 32 +++++------ .../Menu/Context/RelatedMenuItemEntityBuilder.cs | 13 +++-- .../Data/Menu/Repository/MenuReadRepository.cs | 5 ++ .../Infrastructure/AssertEx.cs | 11 ++++ .../Menu/Database/RelatedMenuItemsTests.cs | 67 ++++++++++++++++++++++ .../Menu/Repository/MenuRepositoryTests.cs | 9 ++- .../Company.MyApp.Test.csproj | 1 + Company.MyApp/Data/LocalDatabase.cs | 7 +-- 8 files changed, 113 insertions(+), 32 deletions(-) create mode 100644 Company.MyApp.Test/Integration/Menu/Database/RelatedMenuItemsTests.cs C:\source\myproject [develop ≡]>
Creating a New Branch
Checking Out a Branch and Switching to It
Next I might create a new feature branch with the-b option of git checkout as a shortcut for git branch and then git checkout to switch to the new branch.C:\source\myproject [develop ≡]> git checkout -b Feature/GuestId
Switched to a new branch 'Feature/GuestId'
C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId]>
Centralized Version Control Mind Shift
If you’re coming from another VCS like TFS, the biggest mind shift you may have around branches is that branches in Git don’t map to another folder on disk, they are just pointers to commits. Git branches in a Nutshell may be a helpful reference.
When to Create the Branch
If I’m working on a feature that I know is likely to take a while (non trivial amount of work), I’ll generally branch immediately. That insulates me from others’ changes and allows me to commit and push frequently without fear of losing my work should something happen on my machine.
The downside is that when I do want to incorporate the work of others into my branch it means an extra merge step. Given the ease of branching and merging in Git, I don’t generally consider this an issue. With that said, if I’m working on say, a small bug, I might do some research while in the develop branch and make uncommitted changes there. When I’m ready for those changes to be incorporated, I’ll create and switch to a new branch and Git will preserve my workspace changes so the work carries over into that branch. Then I’ll commit in that branch, push it, and create a pull request to get it into develop.
C:\source\myproject [develop ≡ +0 ~3 -0 !]> git status On branch develop Your branch is up-to-date with 'origin/develop'. 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: Company.MyApp.API/project.json modified: Company.MyApp/ViewModel/Menu/CheckViewModel.cs modified: Company.MyApp/Views/Menu/CheckView.xaml no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a") C:\source\myproject [develop ≡ +0 ~3 -0 !]> git checkout -b fix/OrderType M Company.MyApp.API/project.json M Company.MyApp/ViewModel/Menu/CheckViewModel.cs M Company.MyApp/Views/Menu/CheckView.xaml Switched to a new branch 'fix/OrderType' C:\source\myproject [fix/OrderType +0 ~3 -0 !]>
Make Code Changes, Check Status
After making some changes in Visual Studio and running tests, I might see what’s pending in my working tree withgit status.C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId]> git status
On branch Feature/GuestId
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: Company.MyApp.API/Company.MyApp.API.csproj
modified: Company.MyApp.API/ServiceInterfaces/IOrderService.cs
modified: Company.MyApp.API/WCFServices/OrderWCFService.cs
modified: Company.MyApp.sln.DotSettings
modified: Company.MyApp/ViewModel/Locations/LocationPageViewModel.cs
Untracked files:
(use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
Company.MyApp.API/Requests/UpdateGuestIdentifierRequest.cs
Company.MyApp.API/Responses/EmptyResponse.cs
no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")
C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +2 ~5 -0 !]>
Here posh-git shows me I have 7 files not yet staged to commit – 5 modified and 2 additions (also no deleted files and no conflicts). More details on the posh-git command line indicators can be found at dahlbyk.github.io/posh-git/.
Staging and Reverting Changes
Adding / Staging Files for Commit
Usually I add everything to be staged withgit add . though sometimes a pattern is handy. Usually I find I’m adding everything but even when not committing some files, I find it easier to unadd them explicitly after.C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +2 ~5 -0 !]> git add .
warning: LF will be replaced by CRLF in Company.MyApp.sln.DotSettings.
The file will have its original line endings in your working directory.
C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +2 ~5 -0 ~]>
Note the color changed from red (“behind remote”) to green (“ahead / green light to push”).
Runninggit status again, I see all the files are staged to commit and shown in green.C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +2 ~5 -0 ~]> git status
On branch Feature/GuestId
Changes to be committed:
(use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
modified: Company.MyApp.API/Company.MyApp.API.csproj
new file: Company.MyApp.API/Requests/UpdateGuestIdentifierRequest.cs
new file: Company.MyApp.API/Responses/EmptyResponse.cs
modified: Company.MyApp.API/ServiceInterfaces/IOrderService.cs
modified: Company.MyApp.API/WCFServices/OrderWCFService.cs
modified: Company.MyApp.sln.DotSettings
modified: Company.MyApp/ViewModel/Locations/LocationPageViewModel.cs
C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +2 ~5 -0 ~]>
Unstaging Files
The changes I made to LocationPageViewModel.cs were temporary just to test out integration with a new API method. I don’t want this included in the commit so I unstage it withgit reset.C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +2 ~5 -0 ~]> git reset -- Company.MyApp/ViewModel/Locations/LocationP
ageViewModel.cs
Unstaged changes after reset:
M Company.MyApp/ViewModel/Locations/LocationPageViewModel.cs
C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +2 ~4 -0 | +0 ~1 -0 !]>
Note posh-git now shows: +2 ~4 -0 | +0 ~1 -0 !. The left side in green represents Git’s index (staging area for new commits) and now shows 4 modified files instead of 5. The right side in red represents the working directory tree and now shows 1 modified file of what was just unstaged.
Runninggit status again, I see the reset has unstaged the file as expected.C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +2 ~4 -0 | +0 ~1 -0 !]> git statusThe previous reset included a full filepath but wildcards are supported as well:
On branch Feature/GuestId
Changes to be committed:
(use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
modified: Company.MyApp.API/Company.MyApp.API.csproj
new file: Company.MyApp.API/Requests/UpdateGuestIdentifierRequest.cs
new file: Company.MyApp.API/Responses/EmptyResponse.cs
modified: Company.MyApp.API/ServiceInterfaces/IOrderService.cs
modified: Company.MyApp.API/WCFServices/OrderWCFService.cs
modified: Company.MyApp.sln.DotSettings
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: Company.MyApp/ViewModel/Locations/LocationPageViewModel.cs
C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +2 ~4 -0 | +0 ~1 -0 !]> git reset -- *Order*.csI then added these back to the index just as easily with
Unstaged changes after reset:
M Company.MyApp.API/ServiceInterfaces/IOrderService.cs
M Company.MyApp.API/WCFServices/OrderWCFService.cs
C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +2 ~4 -0 | +0 ~3 -0 !]>
git add *Order*.cs.Reverting Local Changes to a File
Whilegit reset unstaged LocationPageViewModel.cs from the index, the changes to the file still exist locally. Sometimes that’s desirable but in this case I want to revert my local changes to the file with git checkout. By using git checkout -- pathspec, it restores pathspec to its original contents and doesn’t switch branches as it does with git checkout branch. Running git status afterwards shows only those files I want changed and committed.C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +2 ~4 -0 | +0 ~1 -0 !]> git checkout -- *LocationPageViewModel.cs
C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +2 ~4 -0 ~]> git status
On branch Feature/GuestId
Changes to be committed:
(use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
modified: Company.MyApp.API/Company.MyApp.API.csproj
new file: Company.MyApp.API/Requests/UpdateGuestIdentifierRequest.cs
new file: Company.MyApp.API/Responses/EmptyResponse.cs
modified: Company.MyApp.API/ServiceInterfaces/IOrderService.cs
modified: Company.MyApp.API/WCFServices/OrderWCFService.cs
modified: Company.MyApp.sln.DotSettings
Removing Untracked Files
Sometimes I may have various files in my working directory that don’t get excluded by .gitignore and I don’t want to commit (perhaps generated output or temporary, experimental changes). Assuming I’ve already added everything new that should be kept, I can delete all untracked files withgit clean -df. The -f indicates force and -d removes untracked directories.C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +2 ~1 -1 !]> git status On branch Feature/GuestId Changes not staged for commit: (use "git add/rm <file>..." to update what will be committed) (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory) modified: CONTRIBUTING.md deleted: Company.MyApp.sln.GhostDoc.xml Untracked files: (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed) Generated/ out.txt no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a") C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +2 ~1 -1 !]> C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +2 ~1 -1 !]> git clean -df Removing Generated/ Removing out.txt C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +0 ~1 -1 !]>
Committing Changes Locally
Commits with Multiline Messages
Commits for this project have the following standard. XY represents a JIRA project identifier and ### the JIRA ticket number, to associate the commit with a ticket.Brief and clear description of change XY-### #comment Any optional more descriptive comments hereThe multi-line comment can be achieved by starting a quote on one line, hitting Enter, then closing the quote on a subsequent line.
C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +2 ~4 -0 ~]> git commit -m 'Add guest id service client methodAfterwards, another
>> XY-222'
[Feature/GuestId 1419ba0] Add guest id service client method XY-222
6 files changed, 100 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
create mode 100644 Company.MyApp.API/Requests/UpdateGuestIdentifierRequest.cs
create mode 100644 Company.MyApp.API/Responses/EmptyResponse.cs
C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId]>
git status for good measure.C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId]> git status
On branch Feature/GuestId
nothing to commit, working tree clean
Commit with Add
If I already know what previously tracked file changes I have that I haven’t staged yet, I can combine adding / staging them and the commit usinggit commit -a. It’s important to note this will not include new files that have never previously been tracked. Also I’ve usually done git status at some point prior to this – otherwise I’m adding files into the commit somewhat blindly.C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId ↑30 +0 ~3 -0 !]> git commit -a -m 'GuestId - addressed code review commentsThe above can be shortened further with
>> XY-111'
[Feature/GuestId c41cf1b] GuestId - addressed code review comments XY-111
3 files changed, 37 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)
C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId ↑31]>
git commit -am "my commit message".Amending Commits (Messages)
Sometimes my local commit messages are hasty/sloppy or maybe I made a typo in the message so I change the commit message with git commit --amend -m 'better message here'.
- Git commit amend will also take any staged file changes you have and include those in the commit. This commit replaces the previous commit like it never happened.
- Sometimes I might have forgotten to state a file for a commit and amending/replacing the previous commit could be handy but I’ll cover that more in the post on Stashing and Reverting Changes.
- This is rewriting history so be careful – generally this should only be done on local commits never pushed remotely.
- This usage is just when there are no staged changes and I just want to adjust the last commit message.
C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +0 ~1 -0 !]> git commit -am 'content changes' [Feature/GuestId b32e335] content changes 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+) C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId]> git commit --amend -m 'Changed Pull Request guidelines around approval >> XY-123' [Feature/GuestId c4244f4] Changed Pull Request guidelines around approval XY-123 Date: Wed Jul 12 11:32:31 2017 -0700 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)
Viewing Diffs of Uncommitted Changes
Before committing, sometimes I want to compare uncommitted changes (workspace or index) with the latest committed changes in the local repo, to be sure I’m committing what I think I am.Changed File List
git diffshows unstaged changes.git diff --cachedshows staged changes.git diff HEADshows both staged and unstaged changes.
C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +1 ~1 -0 | +0 ~1 -0 !]> git statusThe output received is as follows. Adding
On branch Feature/GuestId
Changes to be committed:
(use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
modified: Tools/AppSuspendResume.ps1
new file: Tools/Utilities.ps1
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: CONTRIBUTING.md
--name-status shows just the name and status of the changed files without the actual diffs themselves.
C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +1 ~1 -0 | +0 ~1 -0 !]> git diff --name-status
M CONTRIBUTING.md
C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +1 ~1 -0 | +0 ~1 -0 !]> git diff --cached --name-status
M Tools/AppSuspendResume.ps1
A Tools/Utilities.ps1
C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +1 ~1 -0 | +0 ~1 -0 !]> git diff head --name-status
M CONTRIBUTING.md
M Tools/AppSuspendResume.ps1
A Tools/Utilities.ps1
File Console Diff
If I know the changed filename I can view it quickly in the console withgit diff head.C:\source\myproject [Feature/GuestId +1 ~0 -0 | +0 ~1 -0 !]> git diff head *AppSuspendResume.ps1
diff --git a/Tools/AppSuspendResume.ps1 b/Tools/AppSuspendResume.ps1
index c397e12..21282eb 100644
--- a/Tools/AppSuspendResume.ps1
+++ b/Tools/AppSuspendResume.ps1
@@ -26,16 +26,9 @@ param(
$code = @"
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
+
namespace PackageDebug
{
- public enum PACKAGE_EXECUTION_STATE
- {
- PES_UNKNOWN,
- PES_RUNNING,
- PES_SUSPENDING,
- PES_SUSPENDED,
- PES_TERMINATED
- }
[ComImport, Guid("B1AEC16F-2383-4852-B0E9-8F0B1DC66B4D")]
public class PackageDebugSettings
{
File Diff Tool Diff
If I don’t want to view diffs in the console output, or for larger changes, I can do the same thing with git difftool head. Note that most of the same arguments can be passed to both git diff and git difftool.
I can also use the -d argument with git difftool to get a directory diff, which allows me to see all changed files in a visual diff tool and easily compare them.
