README.md

Getting started with Git on Windows

Install Git.

Contents

• Configuration
  • Name and email address
  • Editor
• Credentials manager
• Useful aliases
• Handy commands
• Config
• Main Git branching models

Configuration

Name and email address

git config --global user.name "Your Name Here"
git config --global user.email your@email.com

On a specific repository, navigate to the specific repository:

git config user.name "Your Name Here"
git config user.email your@email.com

Editor

The editor is used to edit commit messages. I like using vim, you don't need to install it as it is included in Git Bash.

Vim

Vim supports:

• Highlighting the first line of the commit in yellow and shift to grey when more than 50 characters
• You can configure it to wrap:

git config --global core.editor vim
git config --global format.commitMessageColumns 72

Notepad

git config --global core.editor notepad

Inside notepad: View => Status Bar (so you can see which column you're on currently).

Notepad++

If you absolutely want to you can use Notepad++ but line wrapping will not work.

git config --global core.editor "'C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe' -multiInst -notabbar -nosession -noPlugin"

Credentials manager

The Git Credential Manager Core (GCM Core) is now included in Git for Windows.

GCM Core supports multi-factor authentication for Azure DevOps, GitHub, and Bitbucket.

If you're using multiple accounts on a provider and the accounts can't be differentiated by the hostname only you'll need to instruct Git to pass the entire repository URL, rather than just the hostname:

git config --global credential.useHttpPath true

This will prompt you for your credentials for each repository (see documentation).

Useful aliases

git config --global alias.st "status"
git config --global alias.lg "log --pretty='%Cred%h%Creset | %s %Cgreen(%cr)%Creset %C(cyan)[%an]%Creset'"
git config --global alias.lg-graph-s "log --graph --abbrev-commit --decorate --format=format:'%C(bold blue)%h%C(reset) - %C(bold green)(%ar)%C(reset) %C(white)%s%C(reset) %C(dim white)- %an%C(reset)%C(auto)%d%C(reset)' --all"
git config --global alias.lg-graph-l "log --graph --abbrev-commit --decorate --format=format:'%C(bold blue)%h%C(reset) - %C(bold cyan)%aD%C(reset) %C(bold green)(%ar)%C(reset)%C(auto)%d%C(reset)%n''          %C(white)%s%C(reset) %C(dim white)- %an%C(reset)' --all"

Handy commands

Switch to the previous branch

git switch -

Find the latest commit that modified a file

git log -1 -- <file-path>

Note: this is particularly useful when looking for the commit that deleted a file.

If you only know the file name, you can use wild cards:

git log -1 -- '**/<file-name>'

Prune remote branches

git fetch origin --prune

Before fetching, remove any remote-tracking references that no longer exist on the remote.

Config

You can edit your global config with the following command:

git config --global --edit

I recommend adding those settings:

[core]
    editor = vim -c'startinsert|norm! ggA' - vim will start in INSERT mode
[push]
    default = simple
    followTags = true - Instead of manually pushing new tags with --follow-tags, you always send your annotated tags up along with a git push.
[status]
    showUntrackedFiles = all - shows you all the files underneath that new directory during a git status

Support long paths

git config --global core.longpaths true

Open Edit Group Policy:

Main Git branching models

Spend some time understanding the reasoning used to design these flows. When deciding on a branching strategy, take into consideration the team's Git maturity level, how you're currently releasing software, and how you would like to release software.

Name	Main characteristic
git-flow	When you need to support multiple production versions.
GitHub Flow	Once your Pull Request is approved, you branch is deployed to production before being merged to main.
OneFlow	A simpler alternative to git-flow.
Trunk based development	Pair-programming and no Pull Request.

Martin Fowler wrote a lengthy piece named Patterns for Managing Source Code Branches favouring trunk based development, it does a good job explaining the different branching strategies.

References

• How to Write a Git Commit Message
• Flight rules for git

Talks

• 💰 Git Fundamentals (Pluralsight)
• 💰 How Git Works (Pluralsight)
• 💰 Advanced Git Tips and Tricks (Pluralsight)
• The Things Git Can Do (that none of the GUIs have ever told you about)

Books

• Pro Git, Second Edition