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Chapters ▾

1. Getting Started
1. 1.1 About Version Control
2. 1.2 A Short History of Git
3. 1.3 What is Git?
4. 1.4 The Command Line
5. 1.5 Installing Git
6. 1.6 First-Time Git Setup
7. 1.7 Getting Help
8. 1.8 Summary
2. Git Basics
1. 2.1 Getting a Git Repository
2. 2.2 Recording Changes to the Repository
3. 2.3 Viewing the Commit History
4. 2.4 Undoing Things
5. 2.5 Working with Remotes
6. 2.6 Tagging
7. 2.7 Git Aliases
8. 2.8 Summary
3. Git Branching
1. 3.1 Branches in a Nutshell
2. 3.2 Basic Branching and Merging
3. 3.3 Branch Management
4. 3.4 Branching Workflows
5. 3.5 Remote Branches
6. 3.6 Rebasing
7. 3.7 Summary
4. Git on the Server
1. 4.1 The Protocols
2. 4.2 Getting Git on a Server
3. 4.3 Generating Your SSH Public Key
4. 4.4 Setting Up the Server
5. 4.5 Git Daemon
6. 4.6 Smart HTTP
7. 4.7 GitWeb
8. 4.8 GitLab
9. 4.9 Third Party Hosted Options
10. 4.10 Summary
5. Distributed Git
1. 5.1 Distributed Workflows
2. 5.2 Contributing to a Project
3. 5.3 Maintaining a Project
4. 5.4 Summary

6. GitHub
1. 6.1 Account Setup and Configuration
2. 6.2 Contributing to a Project
3. 6.3 Maintaining a Project
4. 6.4 Managing an organization
5. 6.5 Scripting GitHub
6. 6.6 Summary
7. Git Tools
1. 7.1 Revision Selection
2. 7.2 Interactive Staging
3. 7.3 Stashing and Cleaning
4. 7.4 Signing Your Work
5. 7.5 Searching
6. 7.6 Rewriting History
7. 7.7 Reset Demystified
8. 7.8 Advanced Merging
9. 7.9 Rerere
10. 7.10 Debugging with Git
11. 7.11 Submodules
12. 7.12 Bundling
13. 7.13 Replace
14. 7.14 Credential Storage
15. 7.15 Summary
8. Customizing Git
1. 8.1 Git Configuration
2. 8.2 Git Attributes
3. 8.3 Git Hooks
4. 8.4 An Example Git-Enforced Policy
5. 8.5 Summary
9. Git and Other Systems
1. 9.1 Git as a Client
2. 9.2 Migrating to Git
3. 9.3 Summary
10. Git Internals
1. 10.1 Plumbing and Porcelain
2. 10.2 Git Objects
3. 10.3 Git References
4. 10.4 Packfiles
5. 10.5 The Refspec
6. 10.6 Transfer Protocols
7. 10.7 Maintenance and Data Recovery
8. 10.8 Environment Variables
9. 10.9 Summary

A1. Appendix A: Git in Other Environments
1. A1.1 Graphical Interfaces
2. A1.2 Git in Visual Studio
3. A1.3 Git in Visual Studio Code
4. A1.4 Git in IntelliJ / PyCharm / WebStorm / PhpStorm / RubyMine
5. A1.5 Git in Sublime Text
6. A1.6 Git in Bash
7. A1.7 Git in Zsh
8. A1.8 Git in PowerShell
9. A1.9 Summary
A2. Appendix B: Embedding Git in your Applications
1. A2.1 Command-line Git
2. A2.2 Libgit2
3. A2.3 JGit
4. A2.4 go-git
5. A2.5 Dulwich
A3. Appendix C: Git Commands
1. A3.1 Setup and Config
2. A3.2 Getting and Creating Projects
3. A3.3 Basic Snapshotting
4. A3.4 Branching and Merging
5. A3.5 Sharing and Updating Projects
6. A3.6 Inspection and Comparison
7. A3.7 Debugging
8. A3.8 Patching
9. A3.9 Email
10. A3.10 External Systems
11. A3.11 Administration
12. A3.12 Plumbing Commands

2nd Edition

1.7 Getting Started - Getting Help

Getting Help

If you ever need help while using Git, there are three equivalent ways to get the comprehensive manual page (manpage) help for any of the Git commands:

$ git help <verb>
$ git <verb> --help
$ man git-<verb>

For example, you can get the manpage help for the git config command by running this:

$ git help config

These commands are nice because you can access them anywhere, even offline. If the manpages and this book aren’t enough and you need in-person help, you can try the #git, #github, or #gitlab channels on the Libera Chat IRC server, which can be found at https://libera.chat/. These channels are regularly filled with hundreds of people who are all very knowledgeable about Git and are often willing to help.

In addition, if you don’t need the full-blown manpage help, but just need a quick refresher on the available options for a Git command, you can ask for the more concise “help” output with the -h option, as in:

$ git add -h
usage: git add [<options>] [--] <pathspec>...

    -n, --dry-run               dry run
    -v, --verbose               be verbose

    -i, --interactive           interactive picking
    -p, --patch                 select hunks interactively
    -e, --edit                  edit current diff and apply
    -f, --force                 allow adding otherwise ignored files
    -u, --update                update tracked files
    --renormalize               renormalize EOL of tracked files (implies -u)
    -N, --intent-to-add         record only the fact that the path will be added later
    -A, --all                   add changes from all tracked and untracked files
    --ignore-removal            ignore paths removed in the working tree (same as --no-all)
    --refresh                   don't add, only refresh the index
    --ignore-errors             just skip files which cannot be added because of errors
    --ignore-missing            check if - even missing - files are ignored in dry run
    --sparse                    allow updating entries outside of the sparse-checkout cone
    --chmod (+|-)x              override the executable bit of the listed files
    --pathspec-from-file <file> read pathspec from file
    --pathspec-file-nul         with --pathspec-from-file, pathspec elements are separated with NUL character

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GeezerVison

1. Getting Started

2. Git Basics

3. Git Branching

4. Git on the Server

5. Distributed Git

6. GitHub

7. Git Tools

8. Customizing Git

9. Git and Other Systems

10. Git Internals

A1. Appendix A: Git in Other Environments

A2. Appendix B: Embedding Git in your Applications

A3. Appendix C: Git Commands

1.7 Getting Started - Getting Help

Getting Help