Fun with Git, Redux

[Derek Atkins]

Hi David,

On Thu, August 27, 2015 10:34 am, David T. wrote:
> I apologize in advance for my utter inability to understand this whole Git
> realm.
=
No worries.  We all had a learning curve to understand git.
[snip]
> On to actual questions:
>
> How do I tell my local copy to sync with the newer version online?

I don't know how to use SourceTree, only git command line.  BUT in git it
would be "git pull"

> How do I tell my local copy that my changes went into the main repository
> and no longer need to live locally?

You can 'rm' the branch/directory checkouts?  (Again, I'm not sure how to
do this is SourceTree).

> Am I supposed to check something out? (besides passersby)

I dont think so.

> Should my patches be committed? (or should I?)

There's no need to check them in locally.   The only time a local commit
would make sense is if you're building patches on top of patches (e.g.
changing the same files multiple times overlapping).  But then it would
make your patch submission more challenging, too.

> Would all of this be easier if I dropped SourceTree altogether and put
> together a dummy’s list of commandline commands that will walk me through
> this process?

Possibly, yes.  What I would do is:

git clone github/...gnucash-docs
git clone gnucash-docs gnucash-docs-BUGID1
git clone gnucash-docs gnucash-docs-BUGID2
...

Then you can work in gnucash-docs-BUGIDn, make a patch via 'git diff', and
when you're done just completely delete the gnucash-docs-BUGIDn directory.

To update, go into gnucash-docs and run 'git pull'.  Then future clones
will have the updated version.

> During my last Git episode, I created my own github account and mirrored
> gnucash-docs, but I have no idea how to utilize this in a meaningful way.

There's no need to use github that way if you don't want to.  But Geert or
John could help you through that process if you wish.

> I would be extremely grateful for assistance.

I hope I've helped some?

> David T.

-derek

-- 
       Derek Atkins                 617-623-3745
       derek at ihtfp.com             www.ihtfp.com
       Computer and Internet Security Consultant