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Git Tutorial

Last Updated : 10 Apr, 2025
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Git is an essential tool for developers, enabling them to manage and track changes in their projects. Whether you’re working on a solo project or collaborating with a team, Git keeps everything organized and under control.

This Git Tutorial from beginner to advanced, will walk you through the basics of Git, making it easy to learn and implement in your projects. You will learn about GitHub fundamentals and advanced concepts like branches, pushing merge conflicts, and many useful Git Commands

Git Tutorial

In a Distributed Version Control System, everyone working on a project has their complete copy of the project and its history about every change made by anyone. They can clone the git repository in their local machine and make the changes and also check the history where the previous changes were made in the project.

Suppose the SDE team of GeeksforGeeks is working on a large project, and 15 members are working together in this team. Here, a distributed version control system helps this team to create a local copy of the complete git repository on every team member’s computer so they can easily commit, branch, and merge locally.

Table of Content

Prerequisites

What is Git?

Git is an open-source distributed version control system (DVCS) that allows developers to track and manage changes to their codebase. You can easily manage small as well as large projects with high speed and efficiency by Git. Unlike traditional version control systems, Git allows multiple developers to work on a project simultaneously without interfering with each other’s work. We can use Git privately as well as publically.

Let’s try to understand it by taking an example – Geeksforgeeks Web Development team is building a website in which two developers are working one is Developer A who is working on the homepage and another is Developer B who works on the contact form. They both clone the Github repository, create separate branches, make changes and commit their work. After completion of their code, they push their code and open pull requests for review. After approval, the changes are merged into the main branch. By using Git they can easily track the changes without any kind of interference in each other’s work and keep the project organized.

  • Git was developed by Linus Torvalds in 2005 for Linux kernel development.
  • Git 2.49.0 is the Latest Versions of GIT, released on March 2025.

Why Use Git?

Git offers numerous benefits to developers and development teams:

  1. Version Control: Git helps in tracking changes, allowing you to go back to previous states if something goes wrong.
  2. Collaboration: It enables multiple developers to work on a project simultaneously without interfering with each other’s work.
  3. Backup: Your entire project history is saved in a Git repository, providing a backup of all versions.
  4. Branching and Merging: Git’s branching model allows you to experiment with new features or bug fixes independently from the main project.
  5. Open Source Projects: Most open source projects use Git for version control. Learning Git allows you to contribute to these projects.
  6. Industry Standard: Git is widely used in the software industry, making it an essential skill for developers.

Working with Git

  1. Initializing a Repository: When you initialize a folder with Git, it becomes a repository. Git logs all changes made to a hidden folder within that repository.
  2. Staging Changes: Git marks modified files as “staged.” Staging prepares changes for a snapshot you want to keep.
  3. Committing Changes: Once staged changes are satisfactory, commit them. Git maintains a complete record of each commit.

What is Github?

GitHub, a hosting service for Git repositories, allows you to access and download projects from any computer. Here’s what you can do with GitHub:

  1. Store Repositories: GitHub hosts your repositories.
  2. Collaborate: Work with other developers from any location.
  3. Version Control: Manage collaborative workflows using Git and GitHub.

Introduction to Git

Git Basics

Git Installation

Git Commands

Git and GitHub

Git and GitHub in VS Code

Git and GitHub in Android Studio

Git and GitHub in Pycharm

Git and GitHub Deployment

Git Collaborating

Git Advanced

Git Workflow

A Git workflow is a set of guidelines that help teams collaborate effectively. Some common workflows include:

  • Feature Branch Workflow: Each feature gets its own branch.
  • GitFlow Workflow: A more structured workflow involving feature, release, and hotfix branches.
  • Forking Workflow: Fork the project, make changes, and then create a pull request.

Internal Working of Git

Git uses a decentralized model where each developer has their own copy of the repository and works immediately on the project. Git manages the projects with repositories and can clone a project to operate locally on it.

With staging and committing it track changes and control. You can pull the latest code of the project to the local copy, and push local updates to the main projects.

Git vs GitHub: Difference between Git and GitHub

Aspect Git GitHub
Definition Git is a distributed version control system that tracks changes in the source code. GitHub is a cloud-based Git repository hosting service that enhances collaboration and code management.
Purpose To manage versions of code and track changes locally. To host Git repositories online and allow collaboration and version control via Git.
Installation Git is a command-line tool installed locally on your machine. GitHub is accessed via the web and requires no installation.
Maintenance Maintained by the Linux community. Maintained by Microsoft since 2018.
Focus Git focuses on version control and managing code changes. GitHub focuses on hosting, collaboration, and project management.
History Git was released in 2005 by Linus Torvalds. GitHub was launched in 2008 as a platform for Git repository hosting.
User Management Git does not have built-in user management. GitHub includes built-in user management, allowing for collaboration and permissions.
Licensing Git is open-source and free to use. GitHub offers free-tier and paid plans with additional features.
Tool Integration Git has minimal external tool integration. GitHub provides an active marketplace for integrations, including CI/CD, project management, and more.
Interface Git provides the Git GUI for graphical management. GitHub provides GitHub Desktop and web interfaces for managing repositories.
Competition Git competes with CVS, Mercurial, and Subversion. GitHub competes with GitLab, Bitbucket, and SourceForge.

Best Practices for Git

  1. Commit Frequently: Commit your changes regularly to avoid large, hard-to-merge commits.
  2. Write Meaningful Commit Messages: Write clear, concise commit messages that describe what changes were made.
  3. Use Branches for Features: Always create a new branch for new features or bug fixes to keep the main branch stable.
  4. Keep Your Repositories Organized: Maintain a clean and structured directory in your repository.

Common Git Problems and Their Fixes

  1. Merge Conflicts: Always check for conflicting code before merging. Resolve conflicts manually and commit the resolved files.
  2. Detached HEAD State: When in a detached HEAD state, use git checkout <branch_name> to switch back to your branch.
  3. Commit Not Pushed: Ensure that you have pushed your commits to the remote repository using git push.


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