Getting Started/Sources/Amarok Git Tutorial

Getting started with git

Depending on whether you simply want to test and follow Amarok development, write the occasional patch, or are an Amarok developer, the steps to use the repo are different.

Follow and test the latest development code

git clone git://gitorious.org/amarok/amarok.git

This creates an 'amarok' directory. cd into that and use it like normal. And when you want to update:

git pull --rebase

will download the new changes.

Patch Contributors

You can use the method above, make your changes, then do 'git diff' to create a patch like normal. Or you could use the following rules to create your own fork of Amarok with the additions you would like to request to merge. This makes it easier for Amarok Developers to track your changes and is better for more complicated patches.

• Make sure you have created your account on Gitorious and are logged in. Go to the project you want to clone (e.g. Amarok - http://gitorious.org/amarok) and select the branch which you want to clone (in this case Amarok - Mainline which is the master branch).
• After selecting the branch you can click "Clone this repository on Gitorious". Give your branch a name and you'll be taken to the page of your newly created clone. On this page you find two git urls: one to publicly clone the repository and the "Push url: git@gitorious.org:~yourname/amarok/yourname-clone.git.
• Clone the push url to start working on your clone:

git clone git@gitorious.org:~yourname/amarok/yourname-clone.git
...work on this checkout - follow the normal development workflow...
push your changes to gitorious

• You can follow the main development branch easily by adding it as remote branch:

git remote add upstream git@gitorious.org:amarok/amarok.git

• Update by pulling from the remote:

git pull upstream master

• To submit your patches: Create a merge request on gitorious by going to your clone page and selecting "Request merge" in the menu on the right. Alternatively you could email amarok@kde.org with your branch public branch URL and ask that it be merged. (We just started this, so exactly how to do such things still hasn't been decided).
• Remember to use one branch per feature/bug fix!

Amarok Developers

gitorious.org account setup

• Create an account on gitorious.org the git hosting service used by Qt and now Amarok.
• On your user page, (that's at http://gitorious.org/~your_nick) click on "Manage SSH keys" and add your SSH key.

People with KDE-SVN accounts als should do the following:

• Again from the user page, click on "Manage aliases" and add any email addresses you've ever used in KDE SVN. This way any commits you've made in the past are tracked back to you. If your gitorious email address is the only one you ever used, then this step isn't needed.
• Request one of the kde-developers admins to add your username to the group (the same rules apply as KDE SVN account requests). This will give you push rights to Amarok. Lydia, Ian and Jeff are all admins.

Setup Amarok Clone

Gitorious has one address for cloning, and another for pushing. The pushing address can be used for cloning, so the easy thing to do is just use that.

git clone git@gitorious.org:amarok/amarok.git

This will create a directory 'amarok'. cd into that and start developing!

Basic Development

90% of the time this is all that is needed:

git pull --rebase #update to latest code and apply your local commits on top.(you can still use git pull for some cases).
#edit code, build, it works!
git status #to check if you want to commit all the modified files
git commit -a #the -a option commits all modified files. use git add to select them individually
git push

There's a some of problems with this:

1. git commit -a doesn't catch added or removed files.
2. git push will fail if anyone else has pushed
3. If git pull is not a fast-forward update, it will create a merge commit which may or may not be what you want. Then it's recommended to use git pull --rebase to rebase your work on top of the recent changes. It avoid to have history full of merge that are useless.

If it doesn't work read more documentation.

Recommended reading

The Git Parable: Background information that will help you understand git and distributed revision control systems in general
Git to SVN crash course 5 minute introduction to git for experienced SVN users
Shipping Quality Code with Git Guide to cleanup before a push
Git for Computer Scientists Quick introduction to git internals for people who are not scared by words like Directed Acyclic Graph.
Linus Torvalds on Git Why git? answered by the man that started it.