git_tutorial

Git Client

The Git client is the main tool to create, modify, update and upload a Git project to GitHub.

Download a Git client

After we get and confirm the GitHub account, we need to install a Git Client to access your code locally, in your computer. The Git client can be downloaded from https://git-scm.com/downloads (Git Downloads):

Git for Windows - https://git-scm.com/download/win
Git for Mac - https://git-scm.com/download/mac
Git for Linux - https://git-scm.com/download/linux

Install your Git client

The instalation process of Git Client is simple. In some cases, you may be prompted to choose a few options while installing the client.

Windows installation

Go to https://git-scm.com/download/Wwin, and you will be promted to download a 32-bit or 64-bit client, matching your operating system architecture and version.
Open and execute the installer .exe package, allowing access as Administrator.
Follow the assitant using the default options. These options are the most common and secure to start.
In the step of selecting a default editor, you can select a different option instead of Vim default editor, unless you are familiar with Vim. The options are available based on your current editors installed. You can use Notepad++ or Visual studio Code if they are installed previously.

Mac Installation

Download the .dmg package from https://git-scm.com/download/mac and open it.
Follow the instructions in the installation process.

Linux Instalation

Follow the instructions in https://git-scm.com/download/linux to install Git in your system.
For Ubuntu/Debian based distributions, you need to execute apt-get install git

Accessing the terminal window

If you are using Windows, Linux, or Mac, you may have different ways to access a terminal/command window. This terminal allows you to execute git commands:

For Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, etc), you can use the default Terminal application.
For Windows you can use the Git shell terminal, installed along with the Git client
For Mac, use the Terminal application located in Apps/Accessories

Testing your Git client installation

Once the installation is completed. You can test the Git command in a terminal/command window:

git --version

The result will appear with a text like this:

Git version 2.14.3 (Apple Git-98)

If there were any error messages like the following, you need to check your instalation process:

Git: command not found

Configure your Git client

After you installed your Git client, you need to put some information about the Git user account in a terminal/command window.

First, define the user name of your Git account:

git config set user.name "My Name"

Then, define the user email of the Git account:

git config set user.email "my.email@host.com"

Getting the SSH key for GitHub access

If you plan to push your changes to a GitHub account, you need to share a SSH key to access the GitHub server.

Open a terminal/command window and check if you have a public SSH key created (id_rsa.pub stored in a hidden folder .ssh/ in your home folder):

cat .ssh/id_rsa.pub

The result is the content of the id_rsa.pub file, which looks like the following example. Copy the contents to the clipboard.

ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQCfKooeX2AxyQVdBrvFZCIOGRJ279zGc8qY6kHXhzK9i+fllfDGe/ceyfW9vGXf8rwesE963/wuWut842OGZDmbyPtqajDl7lETiWKHBWK/3FLaQsien31fbT8mV5mTIUkWGMJMYT0EjBtusovLWr5Tjvpn8TdAHt9SLFLPA6RcgLSIta8fzib5/WPu2UOsf5BBRP6eQquoehLsk5cxyWnha06fuRKNrzSLTSMdfFeigHEuzNAOraJvq/E/NGrAX1mE/Dfi8qpnhwOpPY308rxwuVrfp6whBrEvchF/zbWzXXXVbjL1dMc4tiX/itGGt2QBf1lA5Tm9D/oBo5lJr7vl admin@admins-MacBook-3.local

If you get a “not such file or directory” error, you need to create a public SSH key:

Creating a new public SSH key

Open the terminal in your home directory and execute the ssh-keygen command (generate a SSH public/private key pair)

ssh-keygen

You will be prompted to set a filename to store the key and set a passphrase two times. You can leave blank this values (press [Enter] and continue) to use the default values. The result is a randomart image and 2 files: .ssh/id_rsa and .ssh/id_rsa.pub (the last one is your public key)

Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/Users/admin/.ssh/id_rsa):               
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): 
Enter same passphrase again: 
Your identification has been saved in /Users/admin/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /Users/admin/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
SHA256:y7g4UqntpnFzLsA8BpsSlx/Yr01FcU1KsiNDQ0k8uJw admin@admins-MacBook-3.local
The key's randomart image is:
+---[RSA 2048]----+
|     ==.o.oo.    |
|    ..+..= ..    |
|   = oooo .      |
|o + E  o..       |
| O . + .S        |
|+ * + oo .       |
|...*o+o o        |
|  oo*=..         |
|  .=ooo          |
+----[SHA256]-----+

Once you have created your SSH keys, now you can get the public SSH key.

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