Question

So, I’d like to make some changes to status.net (an open source Twitter clone).

Let’s say I want to make it so that people can add fonts in their ‘tweets’, hypothetically.

But, I want to keep getting updates from the status.net people…Let’s say they make some changes and fix some security holes or add a new auxiliary feature.

So, I’ll want to

git clone <url to status.net repo>

Then, what? 🙂

How do I make my changes, store them in git properly, and merge(?) properly with new changes coming from the ‘net?

A sequence of commands, interwoven with “(make your changes here)” would help me a lot.

Thanks!

Answer 1

To make changes, you first put on your programmer hat and do what you always do. I really can’t help you there 🙂

Next, you’ll want to commit your changes. To commit, just say:

$ git commit -a # -a means "automatically stage all changed files git knows about"

and type a descriptive message at the prompt. Note that “commit” in git does not make your changes public. It merely commits to your local copy of the repository; nobody sees it until you git push in the future.

To merge changes other people made into your copy of the repository:

$ git pull

If you have direct access to the repository, you can make the git commits you did earlier available to the public with:

$ git push

Otherwise, you can convert your commits into patches and send them to your friendly maintainer:

$ git log
commit 75b17eeca0394e27759acf2f6b039851a5a28f98
Author: Your Name 
Date:   Tue Aug 10 01:10:19 2010 -0400

    Did something wonderful.

commit f9f677a465a5746874dc2f2c86cc444ffa28a020
Author: Your Name 
Date:   Fri Aug 6 04:06:01 2010 -0400

    Fixed a horrible horrible error of mine.

$ git show 75b17eeca0394e27759acf2f6b039851a5a28f98 > wonderful.diff
$ git show f9f677a465a5746874dc2f2c86cc444ffa28a020 > fix.diff

Lastly, if you want to add new files to the repository, say:

git add foo.html # don't forget to git commit -a like you would any change

To remove files, you can simply remove them like you normally would (with the rm shell command), then git commit -a the change.