@@ -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
-----
Add more issues and their respective solutions in the 'Common Issues' section of gitfaq. Signed-off-by: Shourya Shukla <shouryashukla.oo@gmail.com> --- Documentation/gitfaq.txt | 72 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 72 insertions(+)