How can I commit files with git?
None of the tutorials will help!
They all do that thing where they just assume I know what to do..
Currently, my terminal window starts with..
# Please enter the commit message for your changes. Lines starting
# with '#' will be ignored, and an empty message aborts the commit.
# On branch master
# Changes to be committed:
# (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
#
# deleted: httpdocs/newsite/manifest/cache/0a432970ba6491fe65dad60b012e5c95_louloumay2011en-1-4dea3186b7f7b.jpg
# deleted: httpdocs/newsite/manifest/cache/0a61b5d7a9e97da78fe602e1ad41edb6_5-4dec7c3d57c80.jpg
# deleted: httpdocs/newsite/manifest/cache/0afb6a7716a85d0de46cdd03bb30f75f_fifa_panorama_full_page-01_thu-4dea3d1a0e0f5.jpg
# deleted: httpdocs/newsite/manifest/cache/0b3bc9be76a5d3e1e36af4b8dcf98658_free2-4df0e2e08761f.jpg
# deleted: httpdocs/newsite/manifest/cache/0b6342913b8e599fac76da452af98ec5_si-feb-2009-1-4dea3d1abcb61.jpg
# deleted: httpdocs/newsite/manifest/cache/0b9ddc587340f7744e03c4b2dafacf7f_lou-lou-winter-2009-cover-4dea3d1a9b1a0.jpg
# deleted: httpdocs/newsite/manifest/cache/0bf64ff8fc22720b3da20d0730fa6a04_chatelaine-dec-2009-4dea3d18daa30.jpg
# deleted: httpdocs/newsite/manifest/cache/0bf664e03eb0a2255b69b02aed85add0_summumfeb2011-2-4dea3188766aa.jpg
but there's no way to know how to do what they say to do here..
http://learn.github.com/p/normal.html
All it says is
We simply type our commit message and exit the editor.
What does that mean?!
Just because you write the word simply doesn't mean it is simple..
When I start to type it does wierd stuff, says "recording" or "inserting" and there are about 300 files, and it wants me to replace every line with a message?!?
Help !
I would use their handy Mac application for this, but if it's over 20 files or so, it freezes up !
What's up with that??
When you run git commit with no arguments, it will open your default editor to allow you to type a commit message. Saving the file and quitting the editor will make the commit.
It looks like your default editor is Vi or Vim. The reason "weird stuff" happens when you type is that Vi doesn't start in insert mode - you have to hit i on your keyboard first! If you don't want that, you can change it to something simpler, for example:
git config --global core.editor nano
Then you'll load the Nano editor (assuming it's installed!) when you commit, which is much more intuitive for users who've not used a modal editor such as Vi.
That text you see on your screen is just to remind you what you're about to commit. The lines are preceded by # which means they're comments, i.e. Git ignores those lines when you save your commit message. You don't need to type a message per file - just enter some text at the top of the editor's buffer.
To bypass the editor, you can provide a commit message as an argument, e.g.
git commit -m "Added foo to the bar"
in standart Vi editor in this situation you should
- press Esc
- type ":wq" (without quotes)
- Press Enter
It sounds as if the only problem here is that the default editor that is launched is vi or vim, with which you're not familiar. (As quick tip, to exit that editor without saving changes, hit Esc a few times and then type :, q, ! and Enter.)
There are several ways to set up your default editor, and you haven't indicated which operating system you're using, so it's difficult to recommend one in particular. I'd suggest using:
git config --global core.editor "name-of-your-editor"
... which sets a global git preference for a particular editor. Alternatively you can set the $EDITOR environment variable.
I don't know your system environment, but it seems, that you have typed:
git commit
And your default editor has been launched. In the worst case scenario (for you) it could have been vim :)
If you don't know how to quit vim, use :q.
If you have further problems, you could use
git commit -m 'Type your commit message here'
The command for commiting all changed files:
git commit -a -m 'My commit comments'
-a = all edited files
-m = following string is a comment.
This will commit to your local drives / folders repo. If you want to push your changes to a git server / remotely hosted server, after the above command type:
git push
GitHub's cheat sheet is quite handy.