Comprehensive Guide to Git: Installation, Commands, Branch Management, and Remote Collaboration

Git is a distributed version control system that supports offline operations and efficient version management.

Installation is straightforward across operating systems; after installing, run git --version to verify.

Basic Concepts

Working Directory : the area containing the files you edit.

Staging Area : temporary storage for changes before committing.

Repository : stores all version history, both locally and remotely.

These concepts form the foundation for all Git operations.

File Adding and Committing

Use git add <filename> to stage files and git commit -m "message" to record them in the local repository.

# Example: add and commit a file
# 1. Add file to staging area
git add example.txt

# 2. Commit to local repository
git commit -m "Initial commit for example.txt"

Check status with git status .

# View status
git status

Storage Flow

The typical workflow is: modify files → git add → git commit → git push to a remote repository.

# Common storage flow
git add .
git commit -m "Update files"
git push origin main

Version Management Principle

Git records snapshots of the file system; each commit is identified by a unique hash, enabling fast history traversal and comparison.

Initial Configuration

Set user name and email before committing:

# Set user name and email
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"

# Initialize a new repository
git init

Branch Management

Create and switch branches with git branch <branch-name> and git checkout <branch-name> .

# Create and switch to a new branch
git branch feature-xyz
git checkout feature-xyz

Merge a branch into the current branch using git merge <branch-name> .

# Merge feature-xyz into main
git checkout main
git merge feature-xyz

File Deletion, Restoration, and Version Switching

Delete a file with git rm <filename> , restore staged files with git restore --staged <filename> , or revert to the last commit with git checkout -- <filename> .

# Delete and restore a file
git rm example.txt
git commit -m "Remove example.txt"

# Restore the deleted file
git restore --staged example.txt

Switch to a specific commit using git checkout <commit-hash> .

# Switch to a specific commit
git checkout 1a2b3c4d

File Diff and Log

Compare changes with git diff <filename> and view commit history with git log or git log --oneline .

# Show differences
git diff example.txt

# View full log
git log

# One‑line log
git log --oneline

Remote Repository Operations

Add a remote with git remote add <name> <url> and view remotes with git remote -v .

# Add remote repository
git remote add origin https://github.com/your-repo.git

Push, pull, and fetch changes:

# Push to remote
git push origin main

# Pull from remote
git pull origin main

# Fetch remote branches
git fetch origin

Gitee (码云) and SSH Key Pairing

Use SSH keys for secure authentication; generate a key pair with ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "[email protected]" and add the public key to Gitee.

Collaboration Workflow

Typical multi‑person workflow: pull main, create a feature branch, develop, commit, push, open a merge request, resolve conflicts, and merge back.

# Collaboration example
git checkout main
git pull origin main
git branch feature-abc
git checkout feature-abc
git add .
git commit -m "Develop feature-abc"
git push origin feature-abc
git checkout main
git merge feature-abc

Remote Branch Management and Force Push

Delete a remote branch with git push origin --delete <branch> and force‑push with git push --force when necessary.

# Delete remote branch
git push origin --delete feature-xyz

# Force push
git push --force origin main

Merge Strategies and Conflict Resolution

Use strategies like --no-ff or --squash for clearer history. Resolve conflicts by editing files, adding them, and committing.

# Non‑fast‑forward merge
git merge --no-ff feature-abc

# Resolve conflict
git add conflict-file.txt
git commit -m "Resolve merge conflict"