Git

For version control of the IRC bot scripts we use git. To contribute to projects such as the scripts accessible via robonaut (the bot), you'll need an account on Babbage. We use Github for all common projects at Hackspace.

First time config

Before you can start committing to the git repository, you need to configure your account on Babbage:

git config --global user.name "Jane Doe"
git config --global user.email jane@example.com
mkdir ~/git

This will update your ~/.gitconfig with the appropriate values, and is enough to make commits. You only need to do this once.

In order to contribute, you can then create a key for secure communication with Github:

ssh-keygen

Press return when it asks you for the filename. If it then asks you to overwrite, say no (n). Otherwise, you can protect it with a password if you like. Then run:

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

On Github, create a new entry in SSH Private Keys in Account Settings, and paste the output of the last command into the Key area. You can also add the email address used above, and Github will automatically associate your commits with your account.

For each project

The best way to contribute to a project with distributed version control is to create your own copy, and then push upstream any changes you make.

To create a copy of the project:

cd ~/git
git clone git://github.com/londonhackspace/irccat-commands
cd irccat-commands

Committing

First of all, create and edit the files as per usual. You can see what's changed by running:

git status

or

 git diff

Now, to see to it that they're committed to the repo, do something like the following:

git add file1.sh data/file2.txt
git add file3*.py

This tells git which files you want to commit the changes for. Finally, use:

git commit -m "A useful, but short, message on the changes"

This actually commits these changes, and attaches the comment after -m to the change to make it easy to see what changes you made at a glance. If you want to make a longer message, leave out -m, and you will be given a file in vi to edit.

You should then check your commit history using:

git log

Pushing

To push your changes to Github, from where you can share them, you need to do a little bit more set-up. First, fork the original project from Github to your own account. Then tell git where it is:

git remote add github git@github.com:jane/irccat-commands

You can check this using:

git remote -v

Then whenever you need to push, you can just issue this command:

git push github

Pull requests

Pull requests are the easiest and safest way to get your changes into the main repository. Simply visit the main repository, and click on the Pull request button. The changes you've made will be packaged up into a form that can be commented on.

If you're confident with your knowledge of git, ask someone for push access to the projects on our main Github repository. You'll need to update your remote paths, but you can then push any changes without any delay.