How to Use Git Version Control

M. Asaduzzaman Prodhan^*

What is Git Version Control

Git Version Control is a system that can track changes in a document. Like the track change option in a microsoft word document. However, the Git Version Control and the Microsoft Track Change are different in their scopes, functionality, and purposes. See the comparision below:

| Aspect | Git Version Control | Microsoft Word Track Changes | |:-------------------------|:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Purpose and Scope | Tracks changes in code and project files across an entire repository. | Tracks changes in a single text document (e.g., edits, comments, formatting). | | Granularity | Tracks changes at the line-level across multiple files. | Tracks changes at the character or word-level in a single document. | | Collaboration | Supports distributed collaboration with each user having a local copy of the repository. | Centralized editing; changes are visible within the shared document or during real-time edits. | | Version History | Maintains a detailed history of all commits and allows reversion to any previous state. | Limited versioning tied to the document; relies on manual saves or cloud services for history. | | File Types | Works with any file type, especially text-based files like code or configuration files. | Limited to .docx or compatible Word formats. | | Conflict Resolution | Resolves merge conflicts programmatically or manually during file merges. | Highlights conflicts inline for manual resolution by users. | | Branching and Merging| Supports branching for parallel development and merging for integration of changes. | Does not support branching; all edits are applied directly to the document. | | Offline Usage | Fully functional offline; all repositories are local copies. | Requires the document and Track Changes settings to be available locally. |

| Primary Use Case | Best for software development, managing large codebases, and collaborative coding projects. | Best for collaborative text document editing, such as writing and reviewing reports. |

How to use the Git Version Control in Windows computer

Requirements

• `Download Visual Studio Code

• Create a GitHub account

• Create a GitHub repository and name it gitversioncontrol (for example)

Open a terminal in Visual Studio Code

See an example below:

Figure 1: Writing a GitHub repository using VS Code.

Step 1

• Set GitBash in the terminal

• Create a directory in your local computer

• Initiate a GitHub repository

git init

mkdir git_version_control

• Create a README file

touch README.md

Step 2

• Open the gitversioncontrol directory that you have created in Step 1

Step 3

• Open the README.md file by clicking on it

Step 4

• Start writing your README doc and save by using ctrl-S

Step 5

• Open a preview panel for your README markdown document

Step 6

• Collect the URL of your online GitHub repo

• Add the remote URL

git remote add origin https://github.com/asadprodhan/git_version_control.git

• Then, verify by running

git remote -v

You will the URL that you have added above.

• Connect your local GitHub repo (gitversioncontrol) to your online GitHub repo (gitversioncontrol)

git remote set-url origin https://github.com/asadprodhan/git_version_control.git

Step 7

• Check the status of your files

git status

• Stage the changes

git add .

• Commit the changes with a message

git commit -m "message"

Step 8

• Check existing branch

git branch

If it is "master", then change it to "main"

git branch -m master main

• Push the changes to your online GitHub repository

git push -u origin main

Note

If your push is rejected because the remote repository contains changes that your local repository doesn't have.

Then, pull and push again like as follows

git pull --rebase origin main

git push -u origin main

Or, force your push if you're sure that you don't need the remote changes

git push -f origin main

FAQ

How to upload images from local computer to the GitHub repository?

• Add a specific image

git add <image_file_name>

• Or add all changes

git add .

• Stage the changes

git commit -m "message"

• Push the changes to the online GitHub repository

git push -u origin main

How to display the image in README document

• Collect the image path from your GitHub repository by righ-clicking on the image and copying the link

• Add the following add chunk to your README document

<p align="center"> <img src="https://github.com/asadprodhan/git_version_control/blob/main/vs_code_annot.PNG" align="center" width=100% height=100% > </p> <p align = center> Figure 1: Blastn database nt files. </p>

The above code produces the following display.

Figure 1: Writing a GitHub repository using VS Code.