How to restore tracking a repository - github-for-windows

I used "Clone in Desktop" on GitHub repository, which created the clone (using GitHub for Windows application) on my local drive.
Later I accidentally clicked on "Stop tracking this repo" in the GitHub application. How can I restore the tracking back? Now there is only option to "Clone" which fails because the directory exists and is not empty (I have some changes in the code so I would like to avoid backing up the code and merging it if there was easier option.)
EDIT
I also tracked the original repository and my clone was locally stored in subfolder of the default repository folder. That's why the "Clone" option failed. Fixed with "Clone to" and selecting the right folder with my clone.
(I tested with another repo cloned to default folder that after "Stop tracking this repo" and then clicking on Clone, the repo is tracked again.)

The simplest option is to open a shell from the GitHub for Windows GUI, and type:
git remote add origin https://github.com/user/repo

Related

Update a GitHub repository without cloning

Here's the situation, we are currently working on a project and lately we decided to upload it on GitHub. Now I made my changes and I want to push the changes onto the repository.
As far as I read, in order to make changes you need to clone the repository but that will download all files from the repository and I already have all of the source files.
I'm using GitHub desktop and I can't find any option to clone without downloading and update or create branches from my existing files. Creating a local one is an option but it needs to be uploaded as a separate repository instead of linking it to a current one.
Is there any way to push updates, create branches to the repository from my local project to an existing repository?
Your local project should already be a git repo, if you uploaded it to GitHub.
But in case it is not, switch to command-line, and do inside the root folder of your project (which should shows the same files as your remote repo):
git init .
git remote add origin https://github.com/<user>/<project>
git fetch
The fetch part will download the repo but leave your files alone.
(But do a backup still, just to be safe)
git branch master origin/master
git reset master
From there, your GitHub Desktop should show you any diff between your files and what was fetched from the repo.

How to upload folders on GitHub

How can I upload folders to GitHub? I have all of my code in a folder, containing 98 files, on my desktop. I know how to upload files, but it there a way to upload the entire folder?
Thanks!
This is Web GUI of a GitHub repository:
Drag and drop your folder to the above area. When you upload too much folder/files, GitHub will notice you:
Yowza, that’s a lot of files. Try again with fewer than 100 files.
and add commit message
And press button Commit changes is the last step.
You can also use the command line, Change directory where your folder is located then type the following :
git init
git add <folder1> <folder2> <etc.>
git commit -m "Your message about the commit"
git remote add origin https://github.com/yourUsername/yourRepository.git
git push -u origin master
git push origin master
I Understand where you are coming from.
The solution provided by #James Graham may not work in certain cases. The Drag and Drop Functionality may cease to exist. See below link when that happens:
https://www.reddit.com/r/github/comments/meuxtg/github_drag_and_drop_not_working/
If somebody wants to avoid the shell and all the commands and wants to have a UI to do that,Github Desktop is one of the way to go forward.
Steps to follow to install and use Github Desktop:
I am assuming you know the difference between local repo and remote repo
Install Github Desktop
Create a repository locally on your hard drive by using github desktop. This will automatically create files like .git and .gitattributes. It also asks to create a README.md file, always best practice is to create it and edit it informing readers about your project overview, installation steps etc. README.md is rendered in Markdown and can also render HTML. See more about Markdown here: Markdown Cheatsheet guide
Copy and Paste all the folders and files that you want to upload(basically the right terminology is "Push" ) into this newly created local repository. Be aware of the directory structure as the exact same directory structure will be replicated on your remote repository.
Go to github desktop, as soon as you paste files in the local repo, you will see them as changes here. All you need to do is commit these changes with a comment. This will be your "First or Initial Commit" to the repo.
Next Github repo will ask whether you want to publish these to its remote repository. Click "Publish" Note Publish is just a one time operations. Going forward any further changes you make to local repo will be seen in github desktop and you need to again follow the loop of "Commit local->Fetch from remote->Push to Remote. As long as you are the only developer working on a project you need not go into other mechanics of git branches etc.
To verify if your repo is published remotely login to your github profile on the web and see your repository sitting there. This your remote repo which you effectively created from your local repo by using Github desktop.
I've just gone through that process again. Always end up cloning the repo locally, upload the folder I want to have in that repo to that cloned location, commit the changes and then push it.
Note that if you're dealing with large files, you'll need to consider using something like Git LFS.
For those still using master, this was changed to main
echo "# repo-name" >> README.md
git init
git add README.md
git commit -m "first commit"
git branch -M main
git remote add origin https://github.com/username/repo-name.git
git push -u origin main

How to push unsynced commits to GitHub?

I have a GitHub source control tool added to my copy of Visual Studio 2013 and when I right click on the solution and make a commit it says created the commit locally. When I try to sync the commit with the server, the sync button is greyed out.
My question is how do I set it up or what steps do I take so that the commit is pushed to the server?
It looks like you do not have the upstream remote / branch configured for this branch. Visual Studio operates as if the "push.default" configuration is set to "upstream".
If you go to the branches page, this branch should be listed under the "Unpublished" branches section. From that page, you can choose to "publish" this branch by right clicking on the unpublished branch and selecting publish in the resulting context menu. This will push the branch to the origin remote (with a branch of the same name as your local branch) and set the upstream tracking information for this branch. From then on, you can push and fetch from the Unsynced Commits page.
Here is a screen capture of where you need to go to publish an unpublished branch:
You need to add the online GitHub repo as a remote in your local git repo.
On the command line, that's git remote add origin <urL>; I don't know if the VS git UI exposes this.
We use Atlassian Stash but also found the Visual Studio UI a bit confusing at first. The sequence that works for us, using only the UI, is as follows:
First you have to add your "username" and e-mail address in the Git global settings via Team Explorer > Home > Git > Git Settings
On the "Solution Explorer" tab, right click on the solution and "Add Solution to Source Control" and choose Git.
On the "Team Explorer" tab, click on the repo you just created and go to branches
Choose the master branch, right click on it and choose "Publish" - you will be asked for the remote URL whereupon after you enter it, you will get a username/password prompt (for the remote server i.e. GitHub, Stash, etc.)
All this is doing is git push origin masterbut Microsoft chose to make it confusing by giving it another name.
Wait for the "publish" to be completed (there will be a file transfer status shown in the UI)
Once it is completed, go to the commits tab and you will see that all the options for Push/Pull/Fetch etc are available
Note: If you create another branch locally, you will have to push, er "publish", that one as well before the remote knows about it.
Final note: Visual Studio will not create projects and repos for you on the remote. You have to make sure the repo is setup on the remote before you can push a branch to it.
Weird issue: We found that if you try to push to a branch but fail (due to incorrect URL or a permissions issue) that we had to go back to the command prompt to "fix" the remote configuration for the repo/branch. This is using the standard git command:
git remote add origin https://myuser#stash.mycompany.com/scm/myproject/myrepo.git
After you publish a branch as in #jamill's answer you may run into this.
In Team Explorer, I was able to publish a branch, but then I could not do anything. Pull and Push were grayed out as shown:
So I did Actions > Open Command Prompt. Then Type:
git push origin My_Branch_Name
After doing this I could see the branch and my commit in my remote. (Github or whatever in your case). Also when running the command, the output said,
remote: Create pull request for My_Branch_Name:
If you want to keep this branch and merge it into master, then you can create a pull request on your remote. Otherwise as in my case I want to abandon the branch. You don't have to do anything.

EGit Local vs. Remote repositories

I'm new to git and am wrapping my head around how I'm supposed to be using git and egit. From the egit tutorial, I have setup a respository on GitHub, pushed my Eclipse projects to the remote GitHub repository from my local workspace, I can push changes to GitHub, switch branches, see the updates on GitHub, etc. This all makes sense.
Looking at the Git Repository explorer, I have a listing of "Local" branches and have no "Remote Tracking" branches and I have no "Remotes" listed. When I create a branch from a local branch, the egit dialog indicates "You are creating a branch based on a local branch" and suggests that I should be making a branch from a remote tracking branch.
So my question is, am I correctly using egit?
Should I just continue pushing changes to the remote GitHub repository? If so, what happens once I share the project and other developers clone the repository and start making changes to the remote repository?
Or should I now ditch the local repository and setup a new remote repository by cloning the existing GitHub repository that I initially created from my workspace?
Or do I create a new Push and Fetch "Remote" for my existing git repository?
Or something else?
Confused.
Since you created the repo on your local system and then pushed it to github without creating a remote you don't have a remote at hand. A remote is simply a short alias for the remote repository's URL. To fix this create a remote and a push and fetch configuration from the repositories view. In order to populate remote tracking branches in your local repo you need to run fetch once. As soon as this is done you can use "Push to upstream" instead of the more complex Team > Push... dialog which allows to define all parameters on the fly. When using native git command line you'll find the same concepts implemented there:
with
"$ git push [url] [refspec]" (e.g. "$ git push https://github/user/myrepo.git master:master")
you pass all parameters explicitly, this is similar to Team > Push... in EGit
with
"$ git push [remote]" (e.g. "$ git push origin")
you push to the repository defined by the configuration parameters of the given remote (check .git/config to see these parameters or open repository configuration from egit preference in Eclipse), this is similar to Team > Push to upstream in EGit. Usually the refspec used in this way is implicitly configured when creating a local branch based on a remote tracking branch. It's also possible to add this configuration later but since this is more
tedious manual configuration the other way is more handy.
If you clone a remote repository the repository you cloned from is stored as remote "origin" in your clone. This way you can skip configuring the remote manually. This is only needed if the repository is born when you create it from scratch.
The "Branching" section of the Egit User Guide can help:
There is no obligation to create a local branch which would be named like a remote tracking branch (see "Having a hard time understanding git-fetch" to have a good understanding of "remote tracing branches).
You can create as many local branches (i.e. branches that you won't necessary push anywhere) as you want/need.
But if you don"t see any remote branch, maybe you didn't fetch that GitHub repo in the first place: see Fetching.

How do I create a remote git repository in EGit and link it to an existing Eclipse project?

I am using Eclipse Helios and EGit. I am new to Git. I have an existing Eclipse project for an Android app I would like to place in Git. Can someone please share some instructions on how to setup a Git repo on a shared folder, and place the existing project into this git repo using EGit? I have tried a variety of options with no success.
Thanks!
I had the same question (how to do it in Eclipse / eGit), and I just found the answer to the question stated in the title :
either go to Window > Show View > Other... then select Git > Git repositories or click the Git repositories icon in the set of icons in the right
expand the repository to see "Remotes", right click and Create Remote
choose the option : fetch will tell eclipse you're only allowed to read (which is the correct option if you don't want/have the right to push on that repo). then name that remote repository like you want (the first is usually named "origin", but you can have "prod", "test-server", ...)
click on change to specify the uri of the repository. You can paste on the first field the complete uri you would type after "git clone"; if in GitHub you first copy the uri then it might be automatically filled in
"Finish" then "Save and Push" or "Save and Fetch" according to what you chose in 3°
Also, for creating a new project in Eclipse from an existing git repository with eGit, all you have to do is to go in File > Import...and choosing Git/Projects from Git. Then follow the steps
You can do everything from the command line instead:
Do this in the root of the project:
git init
Do the same in the folder where you want your blessed or central repository:
git init --bare
In the local repository, add a readme file and commit it:
echo "testing" > readme
git add readme
git commit -m "initial commit"
Now link and push your changes to the central repository:
git remote add origin //server/share/repodir
git push -u origin master
Hope this gets you started.
You can use egit later if you like, but there is nothing wrong with using git separately.
See http://wiki.eclipse.org/EGit/User_Guide
If you only want one project in your git repo, Team>Share Project will turn that project into a git repo. You can then create another repo on your share, and push your project repo to the shared folder repo.
If you want a repo with multiple projects, your best bet is to create the project in an external location to the workspace. Then you can create the git repo in the folder above your project.