Git_and_GitHub_terminology.adoc

Git and GitHub terminology

These are a few Git and GitHub terms you should be familiar with before starting.

• Git - A type of version control system (software).

• GitHub - An online (in the cloud) hosting service for Git repositories.

• Repository - Also called a "repo". A repository is a permanent record of a project’s development. It tracks all changes made to files in a project over time. Initializing a repository for a project creates a .git folder that stores the project’s history. If you delete the .git folder, you delete the project’s record of development.

• Clone (n.) / Cloning a repo (v.) - A clone of a repository is a complete (files and change histories) copy of a repository. You usually clone a repository from GitHub (hosting service) to your computer to work on project files locally.

• Fork (n.) / Forking a repo (v.) - This is a special term used by GitHub and a few other hosting services. It is not a Git command. A fork is a cloned repository owned by someone else that you manage in your GitHub account. You are going to fork the ices-eg/wg_WGFAST repository to your own GitHub account to work on files independently before submitting any changes back to the ices-eg/wg_WGFAST repository.

• Upstream repository - The repository you fork from.

• Remote repository - A repository on GitHub or another hosting service.

• Local repository - A repository on your computer.

• Branch - Branches of a repository are isolated development areas. You create a branch to work on part of a project without affecting the entire project. Every repository has one default branch, usually called master, and can have multiple other branches. You merge branches using a pull request.

• Checkout - "Checkout a branch" is to switch to a different branch in the repository.

• Staging area - The staging area stores changes and additions for the next commit. The first time you add a file to the staging area allows Git to start tracking changes to that file. Staging is the step before committing a file, or changes to a file, to a repository. You can continue to edit files that have been staged.

• Commit - Save all staged changes to your local repository.

• Push - Move changes (commits) from your local repository to a remote repository.

• Fetch - Retrieve changes from a remote repository without merging the changes into your local repository.

• Merge - Incorporate the commits and files from a source repository to a target repository into a unified history. You can also merge branches within a repository.

• Pull - Fetch and merge in one step.

• Pull Request - Also called a "PR". A pull request tells others about the changes you have made (all the commits) to the project. It is called a pull request because you are asking to pull the changes from a source to a target. You can create a pull request between branches of a single repository or between branches of different repositories.
  
  

💡	ices-eg (ICES Expert Groups) is the team that owns the workspace. wg_WGFAST is the repository for the FAST working group.