Fast Run

I'll end with five more quick tips you can find online.

Web developer Thomas Hutterer uses a Git alias featuring homegit [17] to manage his configuration files (dotfiles). This little GIT_WORK_TREE trick makes it possible to manage files within your home directory and use them on multiple computers without any additional software. Thomas says "it helps you feel at home everywhere."

Martin Wilck provided the links for a rebase without the loss of tags [18]. The kernel developer also provided a link to the git-related tool [19], which helps Git users track down developers and commits for a set of changes. The tool runs through the Git history and executes a git blame for each change.

Sergio Lindo added several recommendations. For instance, you can sign commits (via gpgSign = true in the [commit] section of the .gitconfig file). The git lola alias [20] creates a colored graph for all branches of the repository at the command line. git rup is an alias for git remote update --prune. It downloads the last commits of all branches of all repositories in the remote ref branches but does not maintain them in the local branches. This can be done by the developer, for example with git-sync-fork.sh [21]. diff-highlight [22] highlights changes in diffs in color.

Storage guru Lars Marowsky-Brée recommends vim-fugitive [23]. The Vim extension makes typical Git commands like git status, git blame, and git mv usable for Vim users.

But the last word goes to Stephan "coolo" Kulow: It has to be fun! To ensure this, he recommends the Happy Git Commits [24].

The Author

Markus Feilner is a seasoned Linux expert from Regensburg, Germany. He has been working with free and open source software since 1994 as a trainer, consultant, author, and journalist. He is currently employed as team lead of the SUSE Documentation Team in Nuremberg, Germany.