Introductory git article?

[Jens Peter Secher]

On 16/02/2008, Casey Link <unnamedrambler at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I have been doing a lot of research into putting my home directory
> under version control and most of what I have found discusses the
> process in terms of Subversion. For me a DVCS is preferable to a
> centralized model because I would not have to rely on a central SVN
> server off somewhere in the cloud. Is anyone familiar with a good
> introductory article to using git as a personal VCS?

Not AFAIK.  I am using git for my home directory, but I have not
written up anything yet.

> One question I had - which doesn't apply only to git - when do you do
> your commits? Do you commit after every change, before you logout or
> end your "session" (i.e. walk away from the computer), or just
> whenever you feel like it?

Every now and then I do a git diff to see what configuration changes I
have pending, and those that have been working out fine I commit.  My
projects are in git submodules, and for those I commit whenever I have
finished and tested a piece of work, or occasionally when I have to
put it away for more pressing real-life issues.  I usually do git push
after a commit, as backup.

> Another question regarding dotfiles in ~ : if you move your dotfiles
> to other directories how do you handle newly installed programs? It
> seems like handling that would be a major headache and very time
> consuming.

I tried various systems, but ended up only moving (and linking)
private dotfiles like .ssh/ and .gnupg/ in a git submodule.  That way
I can check out my homedir without the private stuff on an insecure
machine, as others have described.

When new files pop up during git status, I investigate their contents
and then put them in .gitignore, add them to the repository, or simply
defer doing anything until I have the time.  So it is very ad-hoc..


HTH,
-- 
                                                    Jens Peter Secher.
_DD6A 05B0 174E BFB2 D4D9 B52E 0EE5 978A FE63 E8A1 jpsecher gmail com_.
A. Because it breaks the logical sequence of discussion.
Q. Why is top posting bad?